Predominance of Insanity

Another EP released by the German label Unholy Prophecies comes from the Spanish death metal commando Bodybag. It seems that the band meanwhile has vanished into thin air, but the band members are still active in various other acts. I am not familiar with any of their other stuff, but on their debut EP “Predominance of Insanity” they showed quite a bit of potential. Clocking in just over 20 minutes this is a small yet brutal piece of raw music.

The guitar playing and the classic buzz-sawing guitar tone mainly remind of traditional death metal akin to some famous Swedish bands, but some of the chord progressions and main themes also have a slight US vibe to them. Rapid tremolo pickings and relentless blast-beat attacks play a major role, but Bodybag do not shy away from implementing some chords that have more of a punkish vibe to them. Things are always kept pretty straight-forward, although the music is as rotten and dirty as most stuff Autopsy has put out. Although being tagged as death/grindcore band I personally do not really recognize too much influence of the latter, but to be fair I am not an expert so others might disagree on that.

You will find the typical stoic chords as well as choppy riffs and sections where the rhythm and the tempo varies within a very short timeframe. It speaks for the songwriting skills of the band that this kind of elements never feel overly chaotic. The rhythms are always groovy and even in the more sophisticated sections the patterns seem well structured and each break is there for a reason. In the end the most emphasis has been put on creating easily enjoyable and groovy songs. With an average song length of under three minutes there is no chance for things to get boring and not much fecking around, as each track comes to the point from the get-go.

The production is nearly flawless. The guitars are crunchy and have enough filthiness to satisfy each fan of old-school metal music. The drums are punchy without sounding too sterile and the overall mix is very transparent. The vocals are also on point, with the growling coming across cavernous and putrid. Some sections offer some mid-range screams, but those are exceptions to the rule. Overall “Predominance of Insanity” is a nice little gem that easily deserves a place in the collection of fans of rotten old school death metal, played with a lot of energy and passion.

In 2014, Spanish death/grind outfit Machetazo announced that the band has decided to split up. After that, most fans were thinking "What will Dopi (the leader) do now?". And in 2015, Dopi showed us his new project: Bodybag. This was the band's debut album, A band that sadly decided to split in 2017.

Gonna describe this album in a few words: Machetazo 2. And what music genre Machetazo played? Horror themed death/grind. The guitars sound great and clear. The guitar tone reminds me of those overproduced guitars from modern metal alternative bands like Godsmack or Skillet. For those bands, an overproduced guitar is a nightmare. But for Bodybag, is a bless. A breath of fresh air.

The bass actually sounds underproduced. Because the bass sounds more Lo-Fi than the guitars, sometimes it actually sounds louder than the guitars. Which actually makes the music even better, A loud bass is always well received and in this album, is not an exception.

The vocals are epic. Pretty much a powerful growl that continues for the entirety of the album. Sometimes the vocalists do a high pitched scream. I guess to create a sensation of horror and pain?

Finally the drums, which have the rawest sound. The toms and the snare sound really low quality. The classic "St.Anger" snare is back in this record. The beats are pretty common, your typical mix of punk beats, double bass and blast beats.

In conclusion, this was a really great release by a band that sadly died too soon. If they ever come back, I will receive them with my open arms.