26/11/2025
ushering in the season with some holiday fear - a plunge back into the body’s () brutalizing world 🌎🪦
formed in 1999 in little rock, arkansas (where chip, lee, and a certain proprietor of rvng grew up), the body has since haunted the shadowy underbellies of providence and portland with their savage / seismic / suffocating sounds. mixing the impossibly colossal beats of drummer lee buford with the visceral shred and piercing howl of guitarist / vocalist chip king, the body is a jarring collision that obliterates all notions of formal classification
in 2014, the body and rvng released i shall die here, their fourth full-length studio album. a crushing, crucial collaboration with composer and producer bobby krlic (aka ), the record fuses krlic’s downtempo soundscapes with the body’s relentless dirge, summoning a pitch-dark fusion of experimental electronic music and doom metal
the body returned to this deep, dark well in 2023 to release i shall die here / earth triumphant, an expanded double album featuring the raw, pre-haxan full-length album that would ultimately become i shall die here. a lethal burst of raw ferocity, earth triumphant is a window into the origins of an enduring rvng classic
since its release, i shall die here’s influence has expanded in direct and indirect ways. in 2021, musician and visual artist discovered a poster of ’s iconic artwork for the album insert poster stubbornly hanging in a subletted cambridge apartment. unaware of its origin, its image ultimately enraptured her, guiding her visual language and inspiring the cover of her spectacular 2025 record unobsession. i shall die here, and die here again
this year, the body reissued all the waters of the earth turn to blood, another double album classic, and collaborated with noise duo to release was i good enough?, further pushing their ferocious impulses to the outer limits
big recommendation to check out these releases, and show some appreciation for some true visionaries🩸