For their 30th band anniversary, BODY COUNT treats themselves and us to a new album. It is the seventh album in the band's history and is titled “Carnivore“.
“Carnivore“ means predator or meat-eater. A beautifully ambiguous title, especially in relation to BODY COUNT's very critical stance towards the police, particularly the American police. This is made particularly clear in the second song of the album, which is titled “Point the Finger“.
A somewhat longer excerpt from this song clarifies what it’s really about:
Anywhere
Any time
They shoot first and ask questions last
Could be yours
Could be mine
And then they point the finger at you
How many more innocent people and kids
gotta get killed by these police, man
And then it’s always the victim’s fault
This is some fuckin’ bullshit
Wrong place
Wrong time
They shoot first and ask questions last
Dead man
No crime
And then they point the finger at you
And then you wonder, dear state power, why people no longer trust you and reject you out of principle and experience, even despise you?
BODY COUNT also finds clear words in the following songs.
It is almost shocking how clear and explicit the lyrics of BODY COUNT are (not just on this album), and yet (or perhaps because of this?) the band was nominated for a Grammy in 2018 in the category “Best Metal Performance”. Great media presence has never been a problem for singer ICE-T, quite the opposite. Still, it is astonishing. With similarly clear words, bands like ZSK or Slime would never be nominated for major music awards. This is symptomatic of the business, of this country, and full of meaning.
Indeed, BODY COUNT has never held back. On the contrary, they dig their fingers deep into the wounds of society. They like to describe in detail what they find in these wounds. It hurts, but it is what the band observes, experiences, yes... what we all see and experience every day.
The band's style has not changed one bit!
Perhaps BODY COUNT has even become harder, more uncompromising.
With their mixture of metal, old-school hardcore, and rap, they still manage to captivate. Their lyrics remain beyond any doubt.
On “Carnivore”, there are nine new songs, one cover song, one previously unreleased demo song, and two live songs. That makes twelve tracks, and even if that doesn’t seem like much, the cover version of “Ace of Spades” alone, along with the other nine new songs, is worth the purchase!
BODY COUNT is not only still fresh after 30 years, they are also more relevant than ever.
