Music - Part 326 - The Body/Sandworm

The Body/Sandworm – Split Album (Thrill Jockey)

Vinyl/CD/DL

Out Now

Underground extremists The Body and Sandworm combine to release a new split album. 

The contribution by The Body to this split album is their sixteen minute operetta, The Manic Fire.  Spanning a single side it begins with over a minutes worth of madcap symbol crashing whilst background fuzz builds and eventually takes over. The next section is the a haunting piano lead piece with treated ghost-like voice floating in an out of sound range, it’s quite a calming if not slightly disturbing interlude before the crashing drums take control.

The crashing drums tower over indistinguishable vocals from the Providence band as they wail their blues-like tones with grit and grizzle.  The drums are slow paced and the guitars are too, creating a suspense for the faster section which adds clinical sounding treatments to an already spiralling death march.

The final three minutes is complete and utter mayhem as again the distorted feedback and nothingness gets completely out of control as screaming vocals try desperately to be heard.

The Body are long term friends with Sandworm and Ben Eberle has rarely missed a live performance of the former since the age of 17 now clocking in over 100 visits to see them perform.  Pat Reilly from Sandworm played viola on All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood, The Body’s album from 2010.

There is a stark contrast between the groups.  Whilst The Manic Fire is a well-constructed marathon of styles, the Sandworm contribution is nine tracks of death metal where anger and darkness rip through the seams of ‘walls of sound’ made up on some quite incredible musicianship and  rupturing voices.  Most of the tracks are around the two minute mark with Gestalt Dreams being the pick of the bunch with a wicked guitar riff. 

For a non-metal fan the length of the tracks is key as merits can be given on power and pure commitment.  Land Of Sand teases the ears with switches in stereo output and closer Amid is maybe more conventional and akin to a hybrid standard rock effort. 

It’s all amazingly energetic and to be frank, a lot more entertaining than you’d maybe first imagine.  Not one for the neighbours at 3am on a Sunday morning.

8/10

Links
Thrill Jockey Records
The Body on Bandcamp
Sandworm on Bandcamp

Published on Louder Than War 27/10/14 - here

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