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The Body, "Christs, Redeemers"
There are precious few bands out there that can create the same manic sense of terror and legitimate fear that The Body does. The duo of Chip King and Lee Buford push the sounds of doom past just slow, de-tuned guitars and apocalyptic lyrics into something much more tangible and real. With a diverse gathering of collaborators, Christs, Redeemers just furthers this into their most intense and varied work to date.
King's vocals are perhaps the most consistent and identifiable feature of the duo's material, and they appear frequently throughout this album.His exasperated, hysterical delivery is idiosyncratic to say the least, but conveys a convincing sense of panic and fear that gives a terrifying weight to each and every word he delivers.The quick pacing of "Failure to Desire to Communicate" has this in spades:shrill vocal histrionics that give the otherwise bass lead song an even greater intensity, exacerbated by some rapid fire breakdowns that push the song into something more akin to harsh noise.
The frenetic, pounding drums and quaking bass of "Prayers Unanswered" also make a strong compliment to King's rantings, as does a distinctly old school use of dialog samples throughout.On "Shrouded", effects leave his voice without any humanity at all:obscured by a surging blast of white noise, they just sound like any other instrument as the overdriven thuds in the background arrange into some ersatz rhythm before the song fully kicks in, and later ends in a blackened wall of distortion.
An entire album of this alone might eventually wear a bit thin, and this is where the collaborators come in.The Assembly of Light Choir give a certain lightness when they appear, but it is a purity that is quickly perverted by the sludge and aggression that dominates otherwise.The dramatic, but obscured female voices on "To Attempt Openness" are quite a bit lighter than the gravely, grinding guitars and pounding rhythms that accompany, but are soon blown apart into redlining noise and digital clipping.King's vocals juxtaposed with theirs on "An Altar or a Grave" is brilliant combination, and are met with a similar pairing of trudging doom guitars with warmer, cinematic strings.
On a few of the songs, the female vocals are the only ones that appear, and make for a strong counter-balance with the otherwise dissonant noise.The opening "I, The Mourner of Perished Days" is a perfect example of this, with the bent choir bits and beautiful solo vocals that eventually devolve into windy rattling and indistinct harsh noise."Night of Blood in a World Without End" does similar, but leads off with strings and delicate vocals before eventually beginning a slow, violent roll down a hill into dissonance and ugly aggression.
As evident by the song titles, lyrics, and overall mood, Christs, Redeemers could too easily fall into a world of faux evil cheesiness.However, the variation and willingness to use non-traditionally heavy instrumentation is what keeps this from happening.Coupled with Chip King's singular, manic vocal style, the result becomes a convincingly terrifying record that conjures fear though mood and sound, rather than just stylistic trappings.
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