The Body

The Body may commonly get tagged as a doom or sludge metal group, yet they have moved well past those boundaries by weaving in samples, electronic treatments, acoustic elements, and influences drawn from dub, classical, blues, and a wide array of additional styles to shape their constantly evolving sound. Releases such as the 2013 album Christs, Redeemers incorporated strings and choral vocals, whereas No One Deserves Happiness from 2016 drew on rhythms shaped by modern pop and rap, and I've Seen All I Need to See in 2021 leaned more toward power electronics and death industrial than toward metal. The Crying Out of Things, issued in 2024, represented the sum of every approach the band had previously pursued. Through nonstop live performances and a steady stream of recordings that includes joint projects with acts like Thou, Krieg, Full of Hell, and Dis Fig, the Body have cultivated a loyal audience.

Formed in Providence, Rhode Island during 1999, the Body drew from the area's active noise and experimental community while shaping their abrasive, punishing blend of heavy metal and challenging noise textures. With Chip King handling guitars and howling vocals alongside Lee Buford on drums and assorted electronic devices, the duo refined their method through local shows before issuing a self-titled debut on Moganono Records in 2004. They maintained an active schedule of tours and smaller releases, often in the form of EPs and split recordings with other bands. The 2010 full-length All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood came out on At a Loss Recordings, followed in 2011 by an anthology compilation on Corleone Records and the collaborative album Nothing Passes with Braveyoung. At some point amid their constant travel and sonic development, the Body moved to Portland, Oregon.

Christs, Redeemers, the 2013 Thrill Jockey release, saw the Body integrate samples, stringed instruments, and guest folky vocals with their established mix of noise, drum attacks, and glacially paced metal riffs. The pair next joined forces with the Haxan Cloak, who further dismantled their menacing sound for the 2014 Rvng Intl. album I Shall Die Here. Also in 2014 they put out a split LP with fellow Providence metal group Sandworm on Thrill Jockey, shortly before the two acts toured together. Increasingly drawn to collaboration, the Body partnered with the Louisiana doom metal outfit Thou on the 2014 EP Released from Love, issued in a limited edition by Vinyl Rites; the project was expanded the following year with additional tracks and released by Thrill Jockey as You, Whom I Have Always Hated/Released from Love. Two further joint albums appeared that same year: xoroAHbin with the Japanese ensemble Vampillia and another with the American black metal band Krieg, both on At a Loss.

Thrill Jockey released No One Deserves Happiness in March 2016, the Body's most varied record up to that point, employing beats from a Roland TR-808 drum machine and quicker tempos inspired by hip-hop and dance music. That same month Neurot Recordings issued One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache, the Body's full-length collaboration with Maryland grindcore band Full of Hell, which the two groups supported with joint touring. Their second shared effort, Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light, followed on Thrill Jockey in 2017. The next year the Body delivered I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer, constructed from self-recorded samples and contributions by members of Uniform, Sandworm, and longtime collaborator Chrissy Wolpert. The Body also worked with Uniform on the full-length Mental Wounds Not Healing, which Sacred Bones issued in June 2018; a second joint album with the group, Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back, appeared a year later. Also in 2019 the band put out Remixed, featuring reinterpretations by Moor Mother, Container, Peter Rehberg, and others.

In 2020 the duo released a split single with Bummer and the collaboration I Don't Ever Want to Be Alone with MSC. One of the Body's most abrasive and intense albums to date, I've Seen All I Need to See, surfaced in early 2021. Another joint project that year, the folk-tinged Leaving None But Small Birds with Montreal's BIG|BRAVE, followed. Enemy of Love, a collaboration with electronic artist OAA, arrived in February 2022. I Shall Die Here/Earth Triumphant, a 2023 reissue of I Shall Die Here that included the band's original recordings prior to their transformation by the Haxan Cloak, was released that year. The Body then partnered with vocalist and performance artist Dis Fig (Felicia Chen) for the 2024 full-length Orchards of a Futile Heaven. Later the same year they issued The Crying Out of Things, a dense and maximalist work that included horn arrangements and breakbeats.