“Welcome to gym class.”
Prepare for another euphonious bong rip of drop-tuned stoner death metal/stoner slam—or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days.
Toking it up and bobbing your head to slamming brutality sounds exactly as ludicrous as it is. But then again, this has been transpiring for quite a while now. As the great and powerful Don Campman recently alluded to in an interview on The Brutality Podcast, stoners were very likely the first group of curiously baked listeners to fully appreciate what this brand of death metal had to offer. In terms of the aforementioned proposition’s longevity, it can be traced back nearly two decades when Waking the Cadaver unleashed their iconic—and meme-immortal—two-song demo in 2006. Even after nineteen years, it’s become evidently clear that very premonition not only turned out to be irrevocably true but continues to firmly maintain validity.
Grab a lighter and some papers; stoner slam manifestation Bodybox has another dank serving to provide with their debut LP release, 3. Despite a small volume of work with two EPs since 2021, Bodybox have already established themselves as one of the more recognizable names in the sphere of drop-tuned death metal influence. Deriving everything that made Through the Bongfire and Microwaved Weed the quintessential slam compositions they were, 3 sugarcoats that familiar Bodybox sound with copious layers of mellifluous cocaine to dispatch a five-hundred heartbeats-per-minute sledgehammering of the skull. Whether you’ve been along for the cannabis-infused ride since the very beginning or are a stoner slam greenhorn just starting to dive in, Bodybox’s debut record will have you losing double-digit IQ points in the best way possible.
3 maintains a cohesively brutal and highly technical slam structure. Kitchen pot snare, signature slam lows, pinch harmonics, and low-tuned chugs at terminal velocity. With ten tracks and twenty-three minutes of length, think of each song as its own line of savagery-laced coke with a pungent hint of hotboxing. And each line is leaner, girthier, and more brain-disintegrating than the last. With Harry Brown’s perpetual vocal talents, talents and Hunter Young’s vast array of instrumental aptitude (including the added guidance of Dave Mustrange), we have the primary ingredients for 3’s fibrillating mold.
“realcocainemuzak”, for all the song titles we’ve seen over the span of death metal’s existence, is hysterically ridiculous in its own right. The opening track sets two important precedencies for 3; the absolutely preposterous titles that follow and the album’s powder-filled frenetic pace. Quick and bombastically heavy, 3’s opener is the true embodiment of what stoner slam has become renowned for. Those with weak constitutions may find it hard to not call for an ambulance out of the gate; “realcocainemuzak” in and of itself could spike your pulse to a thousand.
Despite the increased tempo of 3 in comparison to Bodybox’s prior releases, much of the album has plenty of two-step slowdowns to offer. “Skante” and “High Til Dawn” are prime examples of this. The variation in Gomez’s riff work is especially noticeable on these tracks, and what are conceivably two of 3’s most technical songs. Three lines in and heartrates skyrocketing towards the moon, Bodybox still has a mountain of contraband on the table ready to be consumed.
Fittingly featured on “Skimping Fuckin’ Idiots” is the animalistic Seven Kane of Snuffed on Sight. Those familiar with Bodybox more than likely are fully aware of Snuffed on Sight’s comparable sound. Combined with Brown’s already repugnantly harsh lows, Kane could not be a more appropriate vocal compliment. In what is likely to become a live staple for Bodybox moving forward, “Skimping Fuckin’ Idiots” antithetically pontificates a vast assortment of variation, ensuring listeners are anything but cheated out of slam-induced opiates.
What should be abundantly clear at the halfway mark of 3 is the exquisitely crisp mixing and production. Needing no introduction whatsoever, Hunter Young and Brandan Lopez of Digital Ghost Audio are the masterminds behind 3’s impeccable sound quality. Not sounding too raw or perfect, the duo have added another immaculate entry to their seemingly ever-increasing repertoire of production work under the Digital Ghost Audio banner. “Cletus” and “Loyal to the Foil”—yes, you read that right—are shining instances of this. If you and your friends haven’t at the very least formed a That 70’s Show circle in your basement with everyone aimlessly jolting their heads back and forth or your nostrils aren’t incinerated at this point of the album, it’s not too late to begin with the quartet of tracks Bodybox has cultivated to close out the album.
One could be thinking six tracks into 3; where are the meme-worthy samples? Surely that is a staple of Bodybox and part of their appeal? Well, if your heart isn’t exploding out of your chest yet and/or the routine munchies haven’t kicked in, you’re in luck. “Scratch Offs and Hookers” featuring Jeremy Damron of Volcano and “Dodgeball”—almost unsurprisingly—provide just that. A man evoking a sexual connotation-filled poem and a physical education teacher shamelessly berating an assumably adolescent student stand as suitably asinine elements on 3. What should be equally apt is the sheer heaviness that accompany the sound bites on both tracks. This particular tandem could arguably stand as the album’s most hulking phase. If the lines of Bodybox nose candy haven’t made you sweat, “Scratch Offs and Hookers” and “Dodgeball” will.
“Tusi” is 3’s charcuterieboard from a cross-genre perspective. With a hip-hop-inspired hardcore feature from Scotty Hall of Street Soldier, Bodybox gives an ode to hardcore-influenced slam with plenty of fundamental bass drops and hooks to boot. Similar to “Skimping Fuckin’ Idiots”, it’s safe to assume “Tusi” is primed to become a live Bodybox regular for the foreseeable future.
We’re almost done skiing on the slopes and smoking the sweet leaf of Bodybox. So of course, the most audaciously absurd song of the album must be the one to close it out. “Methdog” is something to behold for a couple reasons. First, it is probably 3’s purest slam song. Crushing riffs and blast beats that would make having an anvil fall on your head from ten-thousand feet seem light in comparison are plentiful on “Methdog”. Second, a half-speed sample of the timeless “Smoke on the Water” riff that appears in the midst of the song’s chaotic sadism is just so unbelievably laughable, you may have difficulty deciding whether to be humored or outright confused, or both. Indeed, the closing song almost makes you wonder if Bodybox had a meth-riddled canine help them create it. The last line has been consumed.
It appears to be increasingly rare that a band perfects their characteristic sound early into their careers. By way of masterful production and uncompromisingly heavy slam, Bodybox has accomplished that lessened feat in three releases. As simultaneously hyper-focused and feral for snow as the loaded chicken gracing 3’s cover, Bodybox has erased any doubts as to where they stand on the stoner slam pedestal, and that’s pretty damn high.
8/10
3 releases on March 21st through Maggot Stomp, and you can preorder it here.