I feel the need right up front to warn you to brace yourself before you listen to The Body’s All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood. I could let you experience what I did when I listened to the first track, ”A Body.” But that’s not really too cool of me to do.
The first time I listened, I was lying in bed and I had the title of the album in my head, picturing the waters of the earth, peaceful and serene (and not filled with oil), which is easier than you would think since the track begins with the Assembly of Light Choir performing a beautiful chant. And since that chant continues for seven minutes, I kind of got lost in that moment. Then, around that seven-minute mark, the guitars, feedback and ungodly wails from the depths of hell kicked in and scared the living shit out of me. It’s a startling change, especially to open an album, but it sets the scene pretty well for what’s about to follow and from that point on, it was pretty easy to picture those waters blood red.
I’ve seen the Body called Prog-metal and post-rock, but to me they are just simply a motherfuckin’ psychotic doom band. All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood is loud. I think I have to state that again to really get this across. This is loud, this is noisy, this is disturbing. This is creepy as all hell — and totally amazing.
The vocals are going to make or break this for a lot of people. I know there are words on this record but hell if I can figure out what they are, because it’s all screaming. And I’m not talking some bullshit hardcore screaming to be cool to 12-year-olds. This screaming sounds like a man being tortured by Jack Bauer, set on fire and burned to death. It’s the type of screaming I’ve only heard on Khanate records and ones that will definitely make you double-check that your doors and windows are locked before you go to bed tonight.
And amongst a wall of low end guitars and massive feedback are superb innovative moments like ”Empty Hearth,” which loops a kind of electronic chant with those screams, a pummeling guitar and some digital tomfoolery with jolting pauses and blips and beeps that have you looking over your shoulder for the Grim Reaper to show up. And if you don’t get goosebumps listening to the nearly 14-minute album ender ”Lathspell I Name You,” then you aren’t alive.
None of what I wrote above can even get close to explaining how truly fucking creepy this record is. It’s beyond any words I can use to describe it, in all honesty. And trust me, if you like doom or just want to hear something that’s totally unique, being creepy is a damn good thing. Fuck, even the album cover is scary. All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood is one of those rare albums that I think accomplishes what the band set out to create, and does so absolutely perfectly. Don’t let this gem go by unnoticed. And don’t say I didn’t warn you if you drop a deuce in your pants when you are jolted out of your slumber.
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