Ice T and Body Count are back with another banger of an album, Merciless. I feel like their most recent albums since Bloodlust have been some of the best the band has put out. As much as I do like some of the older stuff, their more recent albums have been hit after hit for me. And this album is no exception. Featuring some great playing from the band members, some hard hitting lyrics from the main man himself and some absolutely great picks for guest musicians, this is a very fun album to listen to.
We start off with the intro track, Interrogation Interlude. This track isn’t anything special, and is the weakest part of the album by far. But everything that comes after it, more than makes up for it!
Merciless is the albums title track and the first proper track. (I would recommend skipping past the previous track personally, you wouldn’t be missing much). This track isn’t anything too special either but compared to the intro it definitely feels like a proper introduction to the album. It starts off with some simple drums and droning guitar in the intro which goes on for a large duration of the track. There’s some nice guitar in the choruses and the song features a great guitar led breakdown section before a nice little guitar solo.
Purge, is where the fun begins. Judging by the song title and the lyrics, it is obviously inspired by the film series and features a radio broadcast in the intro which people who have seen the films will already be familiar with. It’s a very thrashy song, there’s a great guitar solo after the first chorus. Followed by a bridge section with some alarms in the background before our first featured guest of the album, none other than Corpsegrinder from Cannibal Corpse, comes in and delivers his signature brutal vocals which works so well with this band. Big fan of this dude, and his part in this track definitely brought a smile to my face.
After that, we have the track Psychopath. This is another pretty heavy track with a really cool lead guitar riff in the intro. Another guitar joins in, harmonising with the lead before the first verse starts. There’s a couple of sections with some cool guitar effects and chainsaw sounds in the background. The Joe Bad screaming part in the breakdown is excellent. The intro riff comes back in for the outro.
Fuck What You Heard, has a nice bass led riff with a dissonant guitar droning on in the background. The lyrics in this track has a big focus on politics but in typical Ice T style. He’s not afraid to say what’s on his mind and makes some good points. There’s some nice chuggy guitar playing for the outro.
Next up, we have my favourite track on the album, Live Forever, featuring some guest vocals from Howard Jones. This track is incredible! Some nice, heavily metalcore inspired guitar playing, the choruses are epic and all of Howard’s parts are just *chef’s kiss*. Dare I say it, but Howard absolutely steals the spotlight with this track. After that, we have Do Or Die. This track has a pretty groovy feel to it. Some nice lead guitar playing, some cool little hi-hat parts in the verses. It has an excellent bridge/breakdown section and the song ends with the sound of a gunshot.
Track 8 is a cover, a very different take on the Pink Floyd classic Comfortably Numb. I was sceptical before listening to this song, but I’ll admit, I do like this cover more than I thought I would. The lyrics that Ice T has added make it stand out so you can appreciate it as it’s own thing. It does feature David Gilmour on guitar, a collaboration I was definitely not expecting, but very welcomed. He plays all the way through which on my first listen I found quite distracting, but after a couple more listens I did grow to appreciate it. He has more of a typical solo at the end of the song and plays until the track fades out.
Lying Motherfuka starts with some nice chuggy guitars. There’s some more hi-hat action in the verses and the chorus has some eerie dissonant lead guitar. There’s a cool bridge section before a guitar solo comes in with some duel guitars in the background. Track 10, Drug Lords, is another thrashy fun track, featuring Max Cavalera. This track straight up sounds very Sepultura.
Then we come to the last couple of songs on the album.
Track 11, World War, has some excellent guitar, bass and drums playing. The track starts with a news headline broadcast before the band come in with the first chorus. It also has a tempo change halfway through for the bridge with some more dissonant lead guitar, chuggy bass and rhythm guitars going into the outro. Mic Contract is a fantastic final track. The band members play some bouncy riffs along with Ice T’s rapping. Some of the best playing on the whole album. It ends with the very fitting sound of a Mic Drop.
There’s a lot of bands who have attempted to cross rap and metal, but most of them just can’t seem to make it work so well and make it sound so effortless as Ice T and Body Count. These guys know what they’re doing, and the fact that they are still doing it just over 30 years since forming goes to show that it can work if it’s done right! An excellent album, great playing, great rapping, some fantastic picks for guest musicians. Great work to everyone who was involved with making it! 10/10
Track 11, World War, has some excellent guitar, bass and drums playing. The track starts with a news headline broadcast before the band come in with the first chorus. It also has a tempo change halfway through for the bridge with some more dissonant lead guitar, chuggy bass and rhythm guitars going into the outro. Mic Contract is a fantastic final track. The band members play some bouncy riffs along with Ice T’s rapping. Some of the best playing on the whole album. It ends with the very fitting sound of a Mic Drop.
There’s a lot of bands who have attempted to cross rap and metal, but most of them just can’t seem to make it work so well and make it sound so effortless as Ice T and Body Count. These guys know what they’re doing, and the fact that they are still doing it just over 30 years since forming goes to show that it can work if it’s done right! An excellent album, great playing, great rapping, some fantastic picks for guest musicians. Great work to everyone who was involved with making it! 10/10
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