ALBUM REVIEW: Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth – Body Void

One of the newest signings to the ever-fabulous Prosthetic Records, BODY VOID’s fourth full-length, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, is nothing short of a career peak, blending politicised messages with crushing, cinematic doom. 

The latest release from Prosthetic Records‘ BODY VOID, was written during the uprisings in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Politicised punk ethics and outrage permeates this blackened doom-noise opus, leaving it to be one of the most affecting albums to have come out yet in 2021. 

Inspired by the state of the USA in relation to climate change, white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism, this album is a complex beast, pulling forth pus from an ever-weeping wound in a musical catharsis which is truly painful and breath-taking to behold. Throughout the album, the Earth itself is personified, and the music and vocals speak on behalf of it, something which has no voice and yet on whom we all rely. It’s an inspired way of writing, one which leaves this album to be part love-letter, part manifesto.

The textures on this album often spill out from doom into sludge, noise, punk and more, making it sonically a really diverse and interesting listen. These are truly colossal sounds coming from this tiny band (whose touring bassist provides the electronic noise elements). Skipping noises and static breaks up the waves of doom, as does the frequent punk-fuelled drum breaks in Wound and Pale Man, the tracks bookending the album. 

There is a certain sense of cinematography in the way each track on the album is constructed. The slow-moving guitar part midway through Forest Fire has a lamenting pull to it, conjuring up images of a land laid to waste. The drum part in Fawn sounds like a gallop through the forest. Textures and sounds are used in increasingly inventive and emotive ways throughout the album.

Despite the oppressive atmosphere which BODY VOID conjure up, this album never comes across as something defeatist. The punk energy which fuels the subject matter, lyrics and occasional instrumental parts ensure that the overwhelming feeling one is left with is that of catalyst. It’s a call to arms and a devotional prayer to the land we call home. It’s an essential listen.

Rating: 9/10

Beneath This Rotting Earth is set for release on April 23rd via Prosthetic Records.

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