“I’ve actually reached orgasm during torture” That one line is Body Count to a tee. Merciless is the newest album from the rap metal group fronted by the pissed off tyrant that is Ice-T, and backed by an even more pissed off mob. As you hit play on the album, you’re greeted with a grisly grind house-style torture sequence with the drums of Will Dorsey punching through Ice-T‘s spoken word monologue as the helpless victim claims they don’t know anything. Ernie C & Juan Garcia’s guitar keep the pace for the minute-and-a-half while the pulsating bass of Vincent Price tears through the band with a thick beautiful crunch. As the torture stops, Merciless truly begins. Modeled after Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’, the title track’s bent guitar note stretches across the song until its last note is played.
‘Purge’ takes inspiration from the movie series of the same name, even sampling it during its opening. A violence-filled tirade takes over the song with an appearance from Corpsegrinder with his signature vocals making the brutality a reality. Vicious, talking about murder, political values and riffs that make your neck call in sick for work tomorrow? Body Count know what the fans want, and they’ll give them exactly that. ‘Psychopath’ plays into that very well indeed. With Joe Badolato from Fit For An Autopsy showing his snarls to enhance an already furious riff. ‘Fuck What You Heard’ is where said political values come into play. Changing the names of the American political parties to ‘Democrips’ and ‘Bloodpublicans’, a familiar looking face on the cover of the album in a strange uniform, but what could have lit such a fire in Ice-T to make this remarkable stamp? The mind does boggle.
It’s not just that fellow on the cover who’s having a time with Body Count. ‘World War’ takes swipes at everyone, not just a select few. While the message is bare bones, especially with the line ‘Israel and Palestine active as fuck’, it does lose just a smidge of weight contextually speaking. A surprise most people might not expect is the ‘Comfortably Numb’ cover. It’s a bit like marmite, but whatever your stance on it, the message is undeniably universal. If both Roger Waters & David Gilmour give their blessings for the songs to be re-written (with Gilmour himself taking the helm on guitar) you know you’ve created something worthwhile, with a true Body Count twist.
While Body Count have dished out better offerings since their 2014 return to the world, Merciless is truly the most pissed off they’ve been while writing. Yes, Bloodlust does exist, but listen to those albums side by side. You can’t convince yourself that Merciless doesn’t outrank it by true anger and rage.