Release Date - 13th October 2023
Label - Prosthetic Records
Words - Tony Bliss
Now retooled as a three-piece, the fact that Body Void already existed in the realm of ‘so heavy most other so-called heavy bands sound feeble in comparison’ certainly begs the question - is there any new sonic black magic this trio can conjurer to outweigh 2021’s absurdly crushing Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth? It turns out, yes - a resounding abso-fucking-lutely there is - as although its predecessor may have been a monster, Atrocity Machine is a bonafide world swallowing black hole of slo-mo filth. Seriously, this thing will eat your soul.
‘Human Greenhouse’ says it all, the kind of seven-minute opening salvo that will already have the foundations of your home in serious need of repair, such is the riff punishment doled out with consistent, tortuous glee. ‘Flesh Market’ is similarly bereft of light and hope, some squalling electronics - a feature throughout the album - and a blasting mid-section (which sounds somewhat akin to being buried under an avalanche of bricks - I did warn you about them foundations) elevating the enormity minute by harrowing minute.
‘Cop Show’ resembles more the soundtrack to an experimental horror film than a doom metal song, with all manner of mechanical/squelching/droning sounds combining for a horrific noise collage behind the customary rumble. Two closing behemoths - the plus ten-minute ‘Divine Violence’ and title track - hammer home the point with scorched earth intent, the former booting off with a tantalising snippet of scabrous, Portal-esque death metal before collapsing back into the screeching, downbeat netherworld, and the later rounding off the record with Body Void’s most agonisingly languid horror-show yet put to tape, a wretched, club-swinging monstrosity with a wealth of bubbling soundscapes and ear piercing static bolstering the grim and formidable final blows.
Tackling themes of police brutality and the ruinous effects of capitalism, Atrocity Machine is not only a timely act of catharsis, but perhaps also a sobering vision of the world we live in, and a future no one wants to see. It’s also the most grotesquely heavy extreme metal album of 2023 thus far.
8.5/10
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