Protest music for violent times
Protest has always coursed through the veins of America. Much of the greatest forward progress made by this nation has come from challenges to the status quo. But a protest is incomplete without an anthem. Punk music has long been the music of choice for protestors, but as the world evolves, new anthems must be created as a means to rebel against the system. Enter Show me The Body’s Dog Whistle, a vicious, unrelenting and deeply experimental album that takes the spirit of bands like Rage Against the Machine, and makes it louder, meaner and in the end, even more poignant.
Difficult to understand lyrics tend to undermine the messaging present in many metal albums. Take for instance Deafheaven, a band that has frequently been praised for their lyrical prowess, but unless you listen to a lot of black metal or have a lyric sheet in front of you, you’ll probably be stuck just enjoying the sound itself. Show Me the Body skirts this issue in a number of ways, the most obvious being tracks like “Animal in a Dream” and “ Die for the Earth to Live” where it is simply a spoken word interlude that cuts to the core of the issue. The other, less jarring method is to stick with the harsh, shouted vocals, but deliver them in staccato bursts, one or two words at a time, allowing listeners to figure out the lyrics before they are hit with a new barrage of barks. And it’s important that listeners catch the lyrics because much like Rage Against the Machine, this group truly stands for something.
“Badge Grabber” stands out strongly as anti-police brutality, in the same vein as Rage’s immaculate “Killing in the Name” but takes it even further through the use of explicit language and imagery. “Your name will change, your face is gone, no more, anyone, hold a badge, hold a gun / Become no one you can kill anyone, step inside, never lie, fuck a zero, for the one.” This track and many others paint horrific pictures of life in the city and the struggle to simply survive the mental toll it takes on survivors.
Yet, if all you were to take from this record was the lyrics, you’d find yourself missing out on some truly excellent music. Much like Rage took elements of punk, post-punk and hip-hop and blended them to make something that felt fresh and electric, Show Me the Body has taken hardcore punk, noise rock and industrial hip-hop and created something uniquely of the moment–and has even gained the attention and respect of notable rappers and artists in the process. Each of the tracks on Dog Whistle, with the exception of the spoken interludes, are truly horrifying. The vicious nature of the sound has set a new bar of intensity for the year, perhaps the only record that comes close to it in recent memory is Daughters’ You Won’t Get What You Want. It’s in an absolute class of its own.
Sometimes you can see the future unfolding before your eyes. Show Me the Body is at the forefront of a movement, and while that movement may not have truly started and may never include anyone beyond Show Me The Body, that hardly matters. Anyone who claims to give a damn about experimental or extreme music absolutely owes it to themselves to give this a listen. This album is a masterpiece full stop, most albums this year will be playing catch up.
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