The thrash metal band continues to knock it out of the park with poignant political lyricism and skull-crushing instrumentals
By Rachel Walz
Ice-T’s thrash metal band Body Count released their long anticipated album Merciless. Body Count is a rather unique band which combines aspects of heavy metal, punk, and thrash metal classics like Slayer, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Suicidal Tendencies, with the aesthetics and lyricism of rap and hip-hop. The album features cameos from various metal vocalists; Joe Bad of Fit for an Autopsy, Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, Max Calavera of Sepultura, and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher of Cannibal Corpse.
The album, like much of Ice-T and Body Count’s previous material, features lyrics touching on societal issues such as drug abuse(‘Drug Lords”, which features contributions from Max Calavera), and the degenerating state of US politics (“Fuck What You Heard” equates the two party system with gangs, referring to them as “Democrips and Bloodpublicans”, while “Lying Motherfucka” is a scathing condemnation of Trump). “Comfortably Numb” is an updated yet still soulful cover of the iconic Pink Floyd song which describes the inaction of those who are relatively comfortable despite the injustice in the world, and features guitar parts from original Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. Even the album’s prelude, “Interrogation Interlude” and the title track “Merciless” touch on police brutality and racism.
Yet the album also touches on more heavy metal topics of cathartic fictional violence, such as “The Purge”, a skull-crushing metal anthem based on the film franchise which features the signature death growling of Cannibal Corpse’s very own Corpsegrinder, and the album’s lead single “Psychopath” which features Joe Bad of Fit for an Autopsy. “Mic Contract” describes Ice-T ‘killing’ both on and off the microphone and is notably the only song on the album to feature rapping; Ice-T tends to avoid rapping in Body Count to separate the band more from his rap career.
This album perfectly demonstrates Body Count’s appeal and why the band works. While rap and metal may seem like genres a world apart(with metal’s heavy focus on instrumentals compared to rap’s focus on vocal speed, lyrics, tone, and rhythm), they can easily co-exist. Both have roots in blues music; heavy metal evolved out of blues rock, while rap evolved from the blues, jazz, R&B, and funk. When Body Count first hit the scene in 1990, there were a handful of hip-hop groups that used elements of rock and metal, such as Cypress Hill, The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, and Public Enemy, who collaborated with thrash metal giants Anthrax on a re-release of “Bring the Noise’. But bands like Body Count and Rage Against the Machine helped solidify rap metal as a genre unto itself with its own unique merits.
Body Count is certainly a band that embraces its roots, fusing rap, metal, and punk into something unique yet powerful. “Merciless” is no exception; it continues to uphold the band’s thirty year legacy as best as it can, with incredible instrumentation and poignant socially conscious lyrics. Easily a 10/10 album.
