Bodies Below Sea Level is a duo consisting of Grand Rapids, Michigan emcee, singer/songwriter, producer and Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm, along with Hampton, Virginia recording artist Samson Samson. Both have already collaborated with each other on a handful of songs over the years so far, like “Killmode” or “Open Up Your Mind” and of course most notably “Bodies Below Sea Level”, but they finally take it to a new level exiting Hallowicked to release an official self-titled debut studio album.
After the introduction of “Respawn”, the first song “The Devil's Own” is this industrial hip-hop/rap rock mash-up that talks about heathens to the bone, while “Laugh (Bang, Bang, Bang)” industrial raps about the guaranteed stop your momentum. “Evil” works in some dark synths to talk about being bad people and “Sever” embraces rap rock influences further beyond horror lyricism.
“Loser” officially reaches the half way point of the LP on the rap rock end leaving some suspense for almost 3 minutes, just before “Infinite” connects some hi-hats and a bass drum to talk about the bad shit that's always in them to this day . “Trouble in the Library of Corpses” is another well-crafted industrial/horrorcore mix that leads into the Depeche Mode inspired “Unrepenting”.
Meanwhile, on “Eat Myself Alive,” we have Grounds taking part in a trap beat that admits they feel that way sometimes, and the official closing track “We're the Dead” that continues the interlude “Summoning” ends as they started from the industrial hip hop/rap rock influences in the lyrics talking about those traveling beyond the grave.
Assuming this is just the beginning for them, Bodies Below Sea Level's self-titled debut kicks off in November with 36 minutes to properly introduce themselves as a unit. The production balancing industrial hip hop and rap rock proves to be a refreshing change of pace in the underground skit scene, building most of the lyrical themes around horror.
Rating: 8/10
