There have been shit loads of incredible two piece doom releases over the previous year or two, bands such as Eagle Twin, Sardonis and Beast in the Field have really taken things up a notch. However, The Body have been knocking around the murky underbelly of it all since 1999 pushing doom in a more experimental direction. They are nowhere near as accessible as the bands I mentioned earlier and have the feel of an evil twin brother of a traditional doom band that have been locked up in a basement for a good few years. During this lock up they managed to get their hands on some equipment and put together Christs, Redeemers, one of the genuinely scariest pieces of music you’ll ever hear.
It launches with almost dreamy Portishead samples with female haunting vocals singing what could be a lullaby. Samples of female vocals are common with The Body and in this case does exactly what it does on other releases, provides a false sense of security before the brutality kicks in. Just as the melodic noise fades we’re flying into heavy crashes of drums with a dark yet hypnotic riff which is accompanied by a disturbing female choir. The vocals are ridiculous, like Colin from Amenra getting crucified or something. It’s not an easy listening experience whatsoever but has such power you can’t help but feel fascinated.
Half way through this 10 track nightmare ‘Failure to Desire to Communicate’ is unleashed which is beyond brutal. The band creating some seriously nasty doom with the vocalist going absolutely insane. I’m sitting here right now actually shitting myself and I’ve listened to the living hell out of it but that fear is still there. It keeps drifting in and out of colossal mental moments but recovering with samples of soft lullabies, like you are being pulled in and out of a dream. Just as you are drowning in a sea of ambient distortion you are rescued but then thrown back in to a deeper level than you knew existed, tortured basically. ‘Prayers Unanswered’ has a lovely almost Ufommamut like electro sample which comes with a touch of the euphoric but then you remember there’s a horrible industrial clanging in the background and the harrowing vocals are back in the mix forcing you right back into the danger.
99.9% of the world’s population would probably consider this to be the worst album they have ever heard and would think you are completely mental for going near it. Maybe they are right but all I know is the power to conjure so much actual fear and emotion is something to be reckoned with. These chaps don’t want you sitting there bobbing your head, they want to take you places you have never been before, even if it’s a darker place than you ever dreamed of. Christ, Redeemers is not an album, it’s an experience… an absolutely ridiculous experience.
