Review Summary: Remember Ice-T? This is what he's doing now, and it's awesome.
The album is incredibly well produced, courtesy of producer Will Putney, the guitarist for Fit for an Autopsy. The instrumentation sounds a lot more thrashy and in your face compared to their last release, "Manslaughter" and Ice T is as angry as ever. The guitar and bass tone here is really good, and each are given their moments but are still present and audible. The drums sound big, especially the bass drums, which you'll hear a lot of on this album.
The album deals with social and political themes, such as the opening track "Civil War" which opens with a narration of a presidential address from Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, who also contributes a pretty decent solo near the end of the song. Ice T rages at the constant misinformation by the media and poor leadership of the US government claiming:
"The press have the pull
Aint pushing the truth
The public is dumb
Delusional youth
Our leaders are evil
Lie after lie
The public is armed
And ready to die!"
The songs "The Ski Mask Way" and "This Is Why We Ride" deal with crime and street violence, the latter serving as a ballad of sorts, with a melodic lead over the top of a grooving rhythm. Ice T sounds crushed in the soft spoken word at the bridge of the song "This is Why We Ride".
The album also contains notable appearances from Randy Blythe, of Lamb of God fame, and Max Cavalera of Soulfly on the songs "Walk With Me" and "All Love is Lost". Both contributed in their usual fashion, with "All Love is Lost" being my favourite, as Max screams the song's title over Ice T seething about someone he cared about ***ing him over.
"No Lives Matter" and "Black Hoodie" have a bit more bite to them, as both have very infectious grooves, with the latter having a very fast rhythm as the former settles for a more mid tempo sound. These songs both deal with racism, the former specifically targeting the Black Lives Matter movement, and the latter targeting the seemingly epidemic killing of innocent black people at the hands of the police.
The album breaks from the social and political themes in the song "Here I Go Again" which makes Ice T out to be a serial killer who goes on a killing spree at night much like a werewolf, with a creepy ambient lead and a heavy low end rhythmic groove. Ice T's voice deepens and he sounds more and more sinister as the song goes on, which bridges with a schizophrenic mental war as different voices scream and shout. The song was meant to be on one of Ice T's hip hop albums, yet was kept off due to it's graphic lyrics, but feels right at home on this album.
Bloodlust also contains 2 Slayer covers "Reigning Blood" and "Post Mortem", whilst they're nothing interesting, they do pay homage to the originals very well, to the point where I wouldn't mind seeing Ice T replace Tom Araya. The instrumentation is much clearer than the original, no disrespect to Slayer intended.
I would say the only song I really wasn't big on is the title track. Ice T speaks about the bloodthirsty nature of humans in the introduction, but the music stops and starts as he speaks, which puts me off a little bit. Perhaps if the spoken word was on its own and then the music kicked in, like in "No Lives Matter", then it would be a lot more fitting, However once the music kicks in, the main riff is very reminiscent of a hip hop beat you'd hear blasting out of a low-rider in the 90s.
This album is truly a product of its time, written and recorded during the ***fest that was the 2016 Presidential election. Ice T's anger is genuine and the heavy instrumentals only reinforce the vibe the record sets. It blows "Manslaughter" out of the water, and that album was an incredibly tough act to follow.
Ice T says Body Count combines "the impending doom of Black Sabbath", "the punk sensibilities of Suicidal (Tendencies)" and the "speed and precision of Slayer" which is a fitting description of this band, and this album especially.
