ELITE:REVIEW
Blood Youth - Beyond Repair
Rude Records | Release Date: 7th April 2017 Body Count - Bloodlust
Century Media Records | Release Date: 31st March 2017
Blood Youth have put out two EP’s of high quality
hardcore laced with melody and packed with riffs,
bring in vocalist Kaya Tarsus extremely personal lyrics
and here you have a band for the people of a broken
generation. So will Beyond Repair carry on in the
same vein as this? Despite having started his career in hip hop and gained more
notoriety as an actor and reality star, Ice T is still going strong
with his metal/hardcore band, Body Count. Their 2014 album,
Manslaughter, was a strong return to form, with its political
and social commentary, tongue-in-cheek attitude towards
violence and an impressive and humorous interpretation of
the Suicidal Tendencies’ classic, Institutionalized. On the back
of that, many fans, old and new, have been eager for a follow
up. Like on Manslaughter, Body Count’s 6th studio album,
Bloodlust, shows them honing in on their Slayer influences.
Ice T even discusses this in the intro to their medley of
Slayer’s Raining Blood and Postmortem, which could both
be considered better than the originals due to Ice T’s more
aggressive delivery and the band’s musical precision. Slayer-
style riffs and thunderous drumming pop up throughout the
album, as well as nods to Suicidal Tendencies’ and Biohazard’s
more hardcore vibes. Tracks like All Love Is Lost and Walk
With Me, which feature Max Cavalera and Randy Blythe
respectively, stray from the path, with the former partly
reminiscent of Hatebreed and the latter sounding more like
Lamb Of God featuring Ice T rather than the other way
around. Body Count’s iconic rap-hardcore-thrash flavour has
not been totally lost on Bloodlust. First single No Lives Matter,
album closer Black Hoodie and the album’s title track all
come across as natural progressions of the classic Body Count
sound. The rest of the album feels more like an experimental
process that builds up towards these tracks. Although Ice
T’s switching from serious social commentary to fictitious
accounts (presumedly) of violence and debauchery gives a
mixed narrative to the album, Bloodlust is musically a hard-
hitting album that deserves a listen.
Luckily for us the opening one-two of ‘Making Waves’
and ‘What I’m Running From’ still hold the hallmark
traits that the band have used early in their career with
thick textured riffs that snake along and groove better
than most. The latter of the tracks also see’s drummer
Sam Hallett take centre stage and propel the song
forward with his ferocious energy and pace. ‘Parasite’
really see’s the bands love of late 90s/early 00s nu metal
sneak in with the end section sounding like an early
Slipknot song complete with a siren blasting over the
music. “Building myself back up, but I don’t give a
fuck” is one of the many standout lyrical moments
on the record during ‘I Remember’ which smashes
straight into single ‘Reason To Stay’ that is essentially
everything thats great about Blood Youth. The