The Answer Is In The Beat

The Body: Christs, Redeemers (Thrill Jockey, 2013)

October 13, 2013 at 8:49 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Truly astounding doom metal, utilizing heavenly choirs, strings, synths, plenty of swirling production and noise, and shrieked vocals that sound like a rooster being electrocuted. The liner notes even credit a spiritual advisor! I always claim that I know nothing about metal and any time I end up liking something it ends up being Pitchfork-approved hipster metal, and given that Thrill Jockey is releasing this, this probably is no different, but fuck, just listen to this. The first track, “I, The Mourner Of Perished Days”, is just solemn female vocals and a slowly growing tornado of sounds and effects, then “To Attempt Openness” starts with the crushing riffs and howling vocals, with brilliant usage of feedback noise. “Melt Away” starts with dialog samples and choir vocals before the shrieking starts. “An Altar Or A Grave” features sorrowful strings in the beginning, as well as the crushing riffs and shrieking. “Failure To Desire To Communicate” is a little more upbeat, at least in the first minute, but it still bludgeons you with smashing cymbals and punishing, bloody guitar riffs. “Night Of Blood In A World Without End”, like the first track, features clear female vocals over a bed of strings, which slowly gets eaten by feedback distortion. “Prayers Unanswered” is slow and sludgy and has a breakdown with distorted spoken vocals. “Denial Of The Species” is a bit more electronic, with a slow, crunchy distorted beat and more synths, and the last minute has some discordant strings. “Shrouded” begins with a minute of hissing distortion noise, before the thundering drums, riffs and vocals take over. This track definitely has the most detailed drums/programming of the album. “Bearer Of Bad Things” is harsh, pummeling black metal, which gets interrupted by powerdrill noise, like Wolf Eyes crashing a Bathory show. Seriously an incredible album. The vocals might take some getting used to if this type of music isn’t your thing, but it’s harsh and weird and fucked up and awesome.