Body Void: An Unpleasant Defiance In An Unpleasant World
In September of this year, the Open Society Foundations published its Barometer, a survey of over 36,500 individuals across 30 countries with one question in mind: can democracy deliver? By and large, the response was as one might expect – 86% of all surveyed were in favour of living in a democratic state – but it also raised some rather sobering facts; two of which were that, among the 18-35 demographic, 42% were supportive of military rule and 35% believed a strong individual who did not hold elections or consult parliament was a good way to run a country. “It’s indicative of the West’s slow slide towards fascism,” opines Willow Ryan, guitarist and vocalist of blackened sludge/doom trio BODY VOID.
“And there’s no specific example I can give right now, but we have seen it to be almost human nature to drift into a realm of total authority, where violence is used to enact rules, law, order and whatever else you want. We’re always in danger of it, and you’ve seen us grow closer to it over the last couple of years.”
It also goes a fair way to the shift in lyrical direction on BODY VOID’s third album Atrocity Machine, a record where the words ‘horrible’ and ‘unpleasant’ are said in tone of the highest praise towards the utter filth emerging from whatever speakers they’re playing through. Until now, the music had taken inspiration from Willow’s experiences of navigating sexuality and their own mental health; now, it was about world issues, from the consumption of social media to police violence, with one example standing out.
“The weekend I was recording the vocals to Cop Show,” Willow recalls. “The news broke that a homeless man had been killed by an ex-US Marine on the New York subway, and it became the latest in a long line of spectacles of this nature, of people dying at either the hands of police or bystanders and becoming fodder for the news and social media. The only way I think people are able to rationalise this – and especially Americans – is to turn it into a macabre form of entertainment to be consumed. Now, whether it’s a school shooting or police killing or other such event, it’s such a common thing that I feel there’s now a pathological nature to the way we turn it into entertainment.”
Over the rest of Atrocity Machine, BODY VOID touch on topics like capitalism in Flesh Market attack the media once again with an angel on fear-mongering in the title track and take a swing at the general state of the human conscience in Human Greenhouse, all played out to the most abhorrent of riffs, samples and shrieks; it’s incredibly confrontational and not an easily listen in the slightest. “We’re always searching for that unpleasantness,” reveals Willow. “We always want to make it horrible sounding in a good way. Do we question if we go too far with it? Yes, but the answer is usually no, because it can always be more disgusting.”
BODY VOID’s sound is bolstered this time around by the inclusion of Janys-Iren Faughn, who previously had joined Willow and drummer Edward Holgerson on live bass duties and who had provided electronic samples on the last record. “When we were writing Atrocity Machine, it became obvious that the experimenting with noise and electronics Janys had provided on the last record was the direction we wanted to go in. As such, we gave them free reign to go and do their thing and it’s worked out brilliantly. They’ve also been brilliant behind the scene, such a natural fit; it really feels like this is a culmination of the last couple of years.”
This progression in style and sound, along with the addition of Janys, means BODY VOID are definitely in a new chapter of their career, a point also highlighted by the fact that Atrocity Machine’s album colour includes colour for the first time; appropriately, the hue chosen is a deep, bloody red. How long does Willow think this stage will go on for? “I mean, right now it feels like we’ll be in this trajectory for a while,” they muse. “But whenever we do an album, it naturally points in one direction or other. That said, we’re still figuring out where this one’s going to take us [laughs]!”
Poetically, Atrocity Machine came into the public eye on Friday 13th, a fitting date for an album so equally brilliant as it is miserable and despondent. We live on a planet where the far-right seem to make daily strides towards a firm grip on the more developed world, and where that leaves the fate of the globe is anyone’s guess. But whilst there are bands like BODY VOID around, there will always be hope for a turning of the tables.
Atrocity Machine is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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