Band:	Body Void
Album:	Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
Style:	Sludge metal
Release date:	April 23, 2021
A review by:	RaduP

01. Wound
02. Laying Down In A Forest Fire
03. Fawn
04. Pale Man

Basically the Earth is miserable, and so are we.

You already know that doom and sludge are forms of miserable music. Sure, some doom is about being stoned rather than miserable, but I assure you, that's not the case with Body Void. Misery is the strongest word to use here, but so is pain, anger, frustration, loathing. Being held under a boot that presses and presses. I first came upon Body Void's music through their 2018 album I Live Inside A Burning House, coming right after their name change from Devoid (USA), and though on first listen I was floored by the music, the concept became more apparent on further listens as I found out that Body Void's front(person?) is non-binary, which suddenly made the title and the lyrics make so much more sense.

Things have slightly changed in the meantime. Though Willow Ryan still fronts the band, it seems he is more concerned with directing his anger and frustration outward rather than inward. I mean, it's the transition from 2018's I Live Inside A Burning House to 2019's You Will Know The Fear You Forced Upon Us, which was an EP that was a full-length in all but name. Followed by a split with Keeper, which lead to Ryan teaming up with one of them to create the Hellish Form. Now comes Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, the first album to see Body Void as a duo, with Ryan picking up bass duties as well. Even if there is some guest noise from noise artist Entresol, so kinda not kinda a trio. But if you can tell from the album's title, the Earth is rotting, and I'm pretty sure we are to blame for it. Though some of us are more to blame than others.

Body Void's music, regardless of the subject it tackled, had to evoke that misery and anger I was talking about. Usually that means tortured vocals, distorted dirge-like guitars and thunderous percussion. That is mostly the case here, but some parts are amped up even more, with this feeling like Body Void at their most glacial. In the past they've often found moments to pick up the pace and move their sludge into crustier territories. I'm not saying that they don't do that here, and it's welcome each time, but that it feels like they're more comfortable slipping into dronier territories than crustier ones. It's like if Bell Witch, Mizmor and Primitive Man had a bastard child. It's an album in which you can feel the subject matter through its sheer oppressive atmosphere, which is the album's biggest upside and biggest downside. It aces its atmosphere, but does focus a bit too much on it, and with 50 minutes to fill, it feels like it's starting to stretch a bit thin.

It's far from being a big offender in that regard, after all, it's still under the hour of runtime, and it still does move between glacial and explosive, but it's just enough to be quite noticeable. And yet, very few albums feel this crushing, where you can't simply escape all those negative emotions it's screaming in your face.