The Body and Thou
‘You, Whom I’ve Always Hated’
B-
Doom. As a noun, it means death, destruction or some other terrible fate. As a verb, it means for something to be condemned to a painful end.
It’s a word people fear, cannot predict and, for the most part, cannot change. It’s been described, interpreted and showcased through literature, art, cinema and music. Artists of all kinds have tried to perfectly encapsulate the horror and dread contained within four letters.
The Body and Thou, two known names of the doom metal genre, have consistently reminded the masses what it’s like to be dragged through the mire and cast into an endless void.
Their first collaboration, “Released From Love” was destined to portray these behemoths as horsemen of the apocalypse. Sadly, such expectations were too high to conquer.
But they sure as hell tried.
As to be anticipated, “You, Whom I’ve Always Hated” sounds no different from the artists’ back catalog. Putrescent sound waves, strangled shrieks and suffocating cries, riffs heavier than a skyscraper filled with concrete. It’s all here.
And it will swallow you whole.
Though that’s all well and good, the problem is some of the songs don’t have the snare-trap compositions that resided within their other works. As a result, they end up sounding confused and directionless. The irritable vocals on the Body’s part are thankfully few and far between, preventing the album from being a pointless frustration.
Fortunately, that is not the case with the rest of the album, delivering skull-crushing and bone-smashing doom metal with disgusting finesse.
A minor disappointment, but that hardly means this album doesn’t deserve a good listen.
Prepare to be ground into dust.
