Every 7-10 years, our bodily cells completely regenerate themselves so that while what we see in the future isn’t terribly different than the past, you’re a completely separate human now. Along with what goes on physically, we alter our tastes and our mentality quite often, which also might explain why some close friends grow apart.
Luckily, The Body, the duo consisting of guitarist/vocalist Chip King and percussion/electronics Lee Buford, haven’t drifted away from each other and are still a doom-emblazoned beast, albeit in a regenerated body with new textures based on their travels. As they have been releasing their own records the past decade, they’ve been on a collaboration spree with artists such as Full of Hell, Big / Brave, Dis Fig, and plenty others, and they absorbed those influences from their creative partners into their DNA. The result is “The Crying Out of Things,” their ninth full-length, one that still crawls through the mud and manic crevices but adds noise, spiritual calls, and mind-altering groove to something that feels like extinction reaching across the globe.
“Last Things” begins with eerie clips that crawl down your spine, and then the drums surround you, King’s unmistakable and nearly inhuman shrieks crackling. Apocalyptic horns sound as the playing continues to corrode, slowly deforming and reaching into “Removal” that rivets with beats and screams cutting into the fabric. The sounds get bouncy with samples echoing and hovering, the shrieks peeling flesh from bone. The drums pound away as a demonic haze is achieved, ending in violent ricochet. “Careless and Worn” begins mournfully, drums tapping, death horns signaling the end could be near. A dusty heat makes breathing a chore while King’s vocals punish, the playing feeling like you’re in the midst of an old black-and-white Western, looking for any means to quench thirst. “A Premonition” has samples spiraling, an uneasy feeling creeping, and static screams causing panic. The howls then reverberate into a cloud of guitar fog, the drums punish, and we’re into total mania, surrounding you with crazed thoughts and spirits.
“Less Meaning” spits static bursts, blistering as laser-like sounds zap, crashing into devastating screams that amplify the menace. The drums hammer as sounds melt, the weight crushing even harder, practically causing fainting spells heading into brief instrumental “The Citadel Unconquered.” It feels like heat death, beats pumping amid sounds that trick your ears and mind, finally drowning in strangeness. “End of Line” swims in weirdness, and then the percussive elements blast harder, melodies buried beneath the torment as the menace extends its reach. Dark sounds enter into a vortex, swallowing light whole, then regurgitating that into a force altogether different. “The Building” opens with Felicia Chen (Dis Fig) singing over smeared beats, the whole thing disorienting as it enters into the center of your brain. Shrieks belt and add a filthier element, pushing blackness into a storm that contains squeaking noises and the total annihilation by way of electrical storming. Closer “All Worries” is slow driving, liturgical chants adding to the unease, the playing scarring as a doomy haze forms. Shrieks scar as a funereal atmosphere envelopes, allowing bone-chilling elements into the air, everything ending gently while your body uncontrollably shakes.
It’s been stunning to hear how The Body have transformed over the past decade, and “The Crying Out of Things” feels like the culmination of all those experiments and collaborations into a greater whole. You could have dropped off at any point in the past 10 years and rejoined now and still recognized this band, even if by the husk. But there’s so much more going on musically and emotionally that a crash course into their recent history might make sense for some listeners. Regardless, this is a powerful statement, one they would not have been fully capable of realizing before. This has turned The Body into a new form with all barriers having been decimated.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/thebodyband/
To buy the album, go here: https://thrilljockey.com/products/the-crying-out-of-things
For more on the label, go here: https://thrilljockey.com/index
Meat Mead Metal 