The Body are a band that one can really feel have a masterpiece brewing inside of them, an album that sees them transcend their previous material. The duo are not there just yet though, but their trajectory towards the destination remains unbroken for the most part, with this next checkpoint, in the form of a short EP, Master, We Perish.
2010’s All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood was an album that really put The Body on the map and the subsequent collaborative record Nothing Passes with Braveyoung only bolstered that position. Master, We Perish is the band’s second EP effort since then, clearly an example of the band revving their engine for the next full-length and it certainly lays down a haunting and invigorating gauntlet for things to come.
Between sick sludgy riffs and chaotic drums that almost beckon a war, the one trait of The Body that has truly made them stick out is Chip King’s vocals. Agonising is not the word to use, it wouldn’t do it justice. His yelps and shrieks are ungodly and almost depraved, there doesn’t appear to be a technique or method to his madness, these vocals are simply caustic bursts of tortured emotion.
The brief track, ‘The Ebb and Flow of Tides in a Sea of Ash’ kicks in with cacophonous drilling on guitars and drums that are simply molesting and conjure a harrowing atmosphere right from the off, only complemented by King’s vocals.
However, the band is not afraid of dabbling with different shades. The Body have collaborated previously with Rhode Island choir, Assembly of Light, whose presence was truly felt last year with their own record but the collective of entrancing voices returns once again on this EP to conjure more of their haunting, almost frightening sounds on the track ‘The Blessed Lay Down and Writhe in Agony’. Final track, the nine minute ‘Worship’ delves into a mesmeric instrumental of tribal drums and slithering guitars that end the EP in a totally different way than we began.
Master, We Perish is another glimmering chapter in the story of The Body, albeit a short one, however it’s anything but short on vigour, dynamism and intensity.
The EP is out on April 30th through At A Loss.
