The Body & Krieg Review
By Jake McCune
Recorded some time ago and released by At a Loss Recordings in the tail end of 2015, this record seemed to fly under the radar of many in the year-end listmania, myself included, which is absurd considering the names involved.
Lee Buford and Chip King have been redefining the barriers of heavy sonics as ‘The Body’ for over a decade, meanwhile Neil Jameson has been at the forefront of American Black Metal with his project Krieg for even longer. The story goes that Jameson showed up to Machines with Magnets, The Body’s recording studio/friends and old stomping grounds, with naught but a fifth of whiskey, an acoustic guitar and 48 hours to kill. The resulting album is one that finds both parties bolstering many of their individual strengths through collaboration.
Many of the tracks on this release are built on repetitive, digital drum beats that provide a framework for scathing noise and the howls of both King and Jameson, who even pull off call and response screeches on the opening track “Bottom of the Barrel, Bottom of the River.”
There are some classic “earth shattering beneath your feet” moments that The Body seem so adept at concocting. The standout is ‘Carved Out, Caved In,’ where the parties involved have more than a little fun dissecting early SWANS songs and creating dense washes of electronic noise before breaking into riff cacophony.
Jameson’s vocals are a heavy feature, and the raw expression of emotion wrought in his screams complement Chip King’s signature hopeless howls.
The digital drumwork on display here cements the new-ish direction for The Body’s percussion, and honestly ditching the giant snares and toms has produced something audibly terrifying in new and unique way. Listening to the opening of “Gallows” in the dark made me want to pull my own spine out and use it as a self-defense weapon.
I listened to this record three times thru for this review. I enjoyed it more each time. One time I listened to it at 4:30 am at lowish volume browsing 4chan in my bed, which is definitely an effective way to get sad about the world in record low time, which is certainly an appropriate mood for the contents of this album. The Body and Krieg all strike me as dudes who get real sad about the world, but also incredibly decent and nice human beings who contribute a wealth of good to those around them. I hope that none of them post on 4chan.
Listen and purchase HERE
