Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM
Body Count are once more in the house with a new collection of angst filled anthems for latest release Merciless.
Opening with chugging basslines is the short introduction Interrogation which fits in with the aesthetic of the albums visceral artwork which then leads into the winding nature of, and guttural nature of the title track Merciless.
Purge throws back to the bands earlier days and is one of the most intense tracks Body Count have released in some time and has a cohesive angel at the very forefront.
As Psychopath fires through the speakers its hard to comprehend that for10 years, Body Count were on hiatus after the death of three original members, two to cancer and one to a drive-by, Ice put the band on lock-down. The current line-up including surviving OG’s Ice, Ernie C. and Sean E Sean joined by bassist Vincent Price, drummer Will “Ill Will” Dorsey, Juan “Juan of the Dead” Garcia and backing vocalist Little Ice, has been locked in since BC returned in with 2014’s Manslaughter.
Fuck What You Heard carries with it a slow burning message full of is Ice-T’s unloading a round of lyrical bullets at the state of the nation and the time of the band writing the album the looming presidential election.
Live forever and Do or Die provide a great combination of metal crossover that the band became well known for
Through their discography Body Count have included covers, notably Hey Joe & Raining Blood and this album is no different – this time they take on Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb – I must be honest it didn’t gel with me at first and at the time of writing this and coming back to the album it still doesn’t but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes
“I’ve always wanted to cover that song,” says Ice. “I loved the bassline. It reminds me of the end of Scarface. We did it and for a minute we didn’t think we were going to get approval from Pink Floyd. Everybody said, no, it’s not going to happen.
Then, Jorge, our manager, makes a call straight to David Gilmour and he goes crazy over the record! Not only does David Gilmour go crazy over the record, but he also immediately says, ‘I want to play on the record!’ It went from almost, ‘No’ to, ‘Oh hell yes! ‘ I know [David Gilmour] listened to the words, he heard what I was saying and that’s a real heavy record where I’m basically saying that the world is fucked up and as long as we got a roof and we go a TV we’re numb to the wars, to what’s happening right in front of our eyes – and if God is watching us, he’s probably sick of us as a species.”
Lying Motherfuka is one of those of tracks that everyone listening to it can identify with, this then in followed up with a future live favourite and good gym track Drugs Lords
Moving to penultimate World War which focuses on a very real-life narrative before concluding with easily my highlight track Mic Contract
It is certainly not their strongest release, but it is a much-needed injection of intensity.
Merciless Track listing
- Interrogation
- Merciless
- Purge
- Psychopath
- Fuck What You Heard
- Live Forever
- Do Or Die
- Comfortably Numb
- Lying Motherfuka
- Drugs Lords
- World War
- Mic Contract
Line-up:
Ice-T – vocals
Ernie C – guitars
Juan Garcia – guitars
Sean E. Sean – samples
Vincent Price – bass
Will Dorsey – drums
Little Ice – backing vocals.
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7/10
