Band:	The Body
Album:	No One Deserves Happiness
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Industrial metal
Release date:	March 2016

01. Wanderings
02. Shelter Is Illusory
03. For You
04. Hallow / Hollow
05. Two Snakes
06. Adamah
07. Starving Deserter
08. The Fall And The Guilt
09. Prescience
10. The Myth Arc

If The Body were a person, and you were you to walk into their wardrobe, you'd probably see hundreds upon hundreds of masks. Some richly decorated and ornate, others more rugged and simpler in design, but all representative of one fact: this individual never seems content to settle on just one identity for themselves. They're indecisive, and they have to be ready at all times for the possibility of preferring to go in one direction over another. And watching them is something like sitting through a nuclear war: you're not quite sure of what's going to come next, but you can be sure it'll be pretty damn intense, whatever happens.

No One Deserves Happiness, the fourth album from The Body, comes after multiple collaborations from the band with other artists, including Thou, The Haxan Cloak, Krieg, and more. Fortunately, these collabs haven't compromised any sense The Body have of their own distinct sound, and this new output has a wonderful "back to business" sort of feeling to it. As is usual with The Body, there's really no clear sense of direction with this release, and once again it really seems as though the band somehow manage to draw from the very best of each of their stylistic influences towards the creation of their finalized, highly unique product, which can only be described as a bizarre amalgamation of sludge, black metal, noise, drone, and industrial music. Following in the vein of their last album, while this new beast still packs the sludge and the BM in subtle doses, it's much more so "industrial dark ambient something or other" than it is "blackened sludge."

Yet even so, each track here seems to see one side of The Body's personality taking precedence over the others, and given its own proper room to breathe. For example, "For You" has an abrasive, noise sort of thing going on, "Two Snakes" (favorite) gets in on the BM vibe, "Adamah" is some strange kind of industrial ambient, and "Starving Deserter" meanwhile employs a heavier, doomy approach. Regardless of whichever aspect of the music is in the forefront, however, a common theme of heavy, electronically-driven darkness runs throughout this album, and the strange unity of similar and different among its tracks thus makes it incredibly satisfying. And despite the general unpredictability of the band, No One Deserves Happiness proves that one thing has remained constant with The Body: these guys love making use of dark, resplendent female vocals to top everything off. It worked beautifully on their previous two full lengths, and it's working beautifully again here (just give "The Fall And The Guilt" a listen).

Though many things are uncertain with The Body, one thing is for certain: they've come one hell of a long way from their debut. Gradually cranking the weirdness level up over the years, and exploring their love for all things droney and industrial more and more with each subsequent album, No One Deserves Happiness really feels like the grand culmination of everything The Body have done to date. They've learned from the albums they've made themselves, and they've learned from the albums they've worked together with other artists on, and the result is what could very well be their most cohesive output yet. This new album may spin in a vast multitude of directions, and may seem uncertain at times of exactly where it wants to go, but with the twisted carnival ride that is The Body, that's just the name of the game.

Their best yet, and an easy AOTY candidate in this reviewer's book.