​​Written by GE 138.

I've always had a soft spot for Body Count. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's the sound of Ice-T's voice, or maybe it's the hard hitting brutal Metal sound the band plays, which is more seeped in Old School sounding Metal stuff like Black Sabbath mixed with Slayer than whatever current band is claiming they're Metal nowadays. This 7th album from Body Count has an opening track with Dave Mustaine from Megadeth carrying on in the beginning about martial law and people being shot and all that crap, which is kind of exactly what Ice-T did with Jello Biafra on the Shut Up, Be Happy song they did years ago on The Iceberg album, which is kind of exactly what Anthrax just did on their Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't song on the Worship Music album. Meh. After all that, it's a pretty much predictable angry social commentary criminal braggadocio raps shouted over Metal riffs ride through Death (Bloodlust), the dark and the gloom of a sick mind (Here I Go Again), the almost obligatory at this point gang life song (This Is Why We Ride), the song about Police violence (No Lives Matter), the thrash and burn song (Walk With Me), and the Rap / Metal hybrid song, which is pretty much every other song on here... hahaha  And just for shits and giggles, they throw in a Slayer song, albeit played backwards (Raining Blood / Postmortem), which is probably the most Metal thing a band can do, to play a Metal song backwards... LOL It's not as good as the collaboration Ice-T did with Slayer for the Judgement Night soundtrack, but it's a decent listen. Ice-T's long time partner in crime Ernie C. may be one of the sickest Metal guitarist ever to be, with a back catalog of riffs and solos attesting to that fact, and his work on all these songs is stellar. He gets a great tone and he's not a noodler... LOL Him and whoever is in Body Count this year do an excellent job playing on all these songs, especially the drummer, what a monster. Holy shit that guy is good! There's guest appearances from the guys in Lamb Of God and Soulfly on some songs, but I dunno, it's hardly noticeable. The sound on here is killer, and you pretty much know what you're gonna get from a Body Count album, for better or for worse, but yeah, new Body Count album... it's angry, it's hard hitting, and it's pretty fucking good. Dig it.

Brought to you by Century Media, and you can buy the new album directly from them by clicking here. The colored vinyl is almost sold out, so move fast if that's your thing. You can also buy it directly from BC themselves on their website by clicking here. It's also available on iTunes (click here), Amazon (click here) Spotify (click here), etc. etc. "Like" Body Count on Facebook by clicking here. Follow the band on Instagram by clicking here. 

​Written by GE 138.

hahahhahahha When did Justin Sane turn into Rob Tyner from the MC5? LOL Addressing the crowd as "Brothers and Sisters" now? Really??? Oh man. Well, at least he doesn't think he's the reincarnation of Joe Strummer anymore. Boy, was THAT phase of his career annoying! hahaha Anywho, this supposed first official live release from Anti-Flag (I guess they're forgetting that trendy horrible shitty sounding Live Acoustic At 11th Street Records release they did a few years back) is called Live Volume One and it's a pretty good listen. Nice to hear the material sounding all high tech boomtastic and stereoriffic and all that. Recorded over a 3 night run at Hollywood's legendary Troubadour club, the 13 songs on this release represents almost every aspect of Anti-Flag's musical career. Of course, I'm particular to the earlier stuff like Drink Drank Punk, Born To Die, You'd Do The Same, Their System Doesn't Work For You, and Die For Your Government, but later day tunes like Fabled World and Brandenburg Gate, the songs they're still trying to pass off as a good, and other later day songs like The Press Corpse and You Are Fired, are well represented on this release. Thankfully they edited out most of the political posturing that goes on in between songs, because that Justin Sane sure does like to hear himself talk... ha ha ha Some people say live albums are a cash in, and maybe they're right, I dunno, but I personally like live albums, and this one, for what it's worth, is pretty good. Anti-Flag, when they're not jumping around like drunken kangaroos on speed, are a great band live, and this release does a good job capturing them in their element. 

Available everywhere that Punk music is marketed and sold as the disposable commodity that it is. Available directly from the Anti-Flag Bandcamp page by clicking here.