Review: Body Void ‘Atrocity Machine’

If you are looking for something cheerful and upbeat to listen to then please stop reading this now, as the new release from Body Void is anything but that, it’s grim with a capital G, like having your head trapped in a meat grinder whilst being simultaneously kicked in the nuts and having a red hot poker shoved up your arse. Paints a lovely image doesn’t it? So strap in and enjoy the ride!!

The cheerful trio of Willow Ryan (guitar, bass, synths, vocals), Janys-Iren Faughn (electronics, samples, live bass) and Edwards Holgerson (drums) have combined to make their fourth studio album, the second released under the Prosthetic Records banner, and it continues their morose view on the world around us. Atrocity Machine is quite an apt name for the album as it’s a dark, depressive collection of songs that suffocate the listener and seek to inflict injury upon them.

The songs look at the oppressive systems and societal functions that continually degrade the lives of millions, with the song Cop Show unravelling the horror of police violence, ‘turn on the cop show, murder for free, 24/7 free live stream, the victims you and me’ talks about the commercialisation of police brutality and it becoming a spectacle, which we are all actively participating in and could become a star at any time.

a dark, depressive collection of songs that suffocate the listener and seek to inflict injury upon them….

Flesh Market looks at the increased reality of living in a capitalist landscape, with human life feeling less and less valued, ‘controlled by hungry, mouths to feed, who are happy to eat, what you have to offer’, it’s the lurid tones of modern day, and we are all living in a self-destructive society which will turn on itself at a moment’s notice.

But this is reality, and they don’t shy away from the issues affecting everyone. Essentially a doom band, Body Void have expanded their sound and added a complex layer of synths, samples and noises, that really help to make the music more asphyxiating, but it sounds amazingly heavy. Listen to the ten-minute onslaught that is Divine Violence, it’s a brute of a song, but the samples add a more dramatic effect to the music, so much so that you can almost visualize the violence taking place, as your mind is taken to scary, traumatic places.

The horror is wrapped up with the album title track, Atrocity Machine and it’s another ten-minute attack on your senses, almost bludgeoning you into submission, as they comment ‘win a prize, die to see a gleeful idol; wired with excuses for barbarity’. The social commentary is one where it highlights the ills of so many in the world, and people need to wake up before it’s too late. This album isn’t for the feint hearted at all, but for those who dare, they will enjoy it and the message that Body Void are conveying.

Label: Prosthetic Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Instagram

Scribed by: Matthew Williams