Search - Body Count :: Murder 4 Hire

This Ain't No SVU!

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 08/11/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There's a new Body Count album out, but no one seems to know or care. That's rather sad coz these guys are a true original and have been more influencial on music than one might guess. The whole rap in metal thing is so prevelant now that it's hard to even remember the time when the two genres were like oil and water. Sure, rap creeped into rock/metal a few times. We had Anthrax, The Beastie Boys, the Run DMC/Aerosmith crossover, but these tunes were done in the days of party rap and these songs were kinda light or silly. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, I still believe rap was at it's best before it started taking itself way too seriously. So, Body Count weren't the first ones to put rap into rock, but they did something quite unique. They took the gritty, urban street rap we're more familiar with today, and gave it the metal treatment. They took life on the streets and in the ghettos and put it in a language the metalheads understood and ultimately enjoyed. And it was an all black band fronted by a famous rapper. Though the debut album really didn't have any rapping on it at all, the attitude, the language and the feel of a rap album was present. Even today no one has done what Body Count did. All the rap/metal garbage out there is still white guys with dreadlocks who most likely grew up in suburbia. Body Count never really seemed to get any recognition for this, but just kinda fell by the wayside after their Copkiller controversy made them look more like a novelty in the public's eye. They released two more albums after that, but no one bought them. Even with the unfortunate deaths of three band memebers, Body Count return nearly ten years later with a new album, and still no one cares. This cd ain't selling worth a crap, and it's a real shame, especially when you take a look at the stuff that is selling right now. This is a good album. It's really like no time has passed. I was actually a bit afraid BC would go the numetal route with this one, but they didn't(another reason why it's probably going unnoticed). It's still Body Count's brand of thrash. Oh No!! It's even got guitar solos!! So why the 3 stars? It's got nothing to do with the songwriting. Ice-T and Ernie have written some killer tunes here. Not earthshattering or even much different than their previous albums, but I wouldn't want it any other way. The lower rating is for the sound quality. Whoever mixed this album should get the snot kicked out of them. The band sounds like they were recorded two rooms away from the studio Ice-T was recording in. Remember the good ol' days when the cd format was introduced? How you'd go and buy a Testament or Sepultura cd, and the sound on the cd was wafer thin? Sure you loved the album and hated the sound quality, but there was nothing you could do about it. Murder 4 Hire sounds like one of those old cds, and in this day and age of recording technology, there's simply no excuse for this. I find it hard to believe that this is what Ice-T wanted, especially after the heavy mix of the previous album. During the instrumental parts you have to turn up the volume about as loud as it can go to hear it, then when the vocals start you have to turn it down coz it's too damn loud. If I were Ernie C(or anyone else in the band for that matter), I'd be pissed. I know Ice-T being a rapper is used to being front and center in the mix, and that's fine, but I don't think it was so much him as it was a botched job in the mixing process. But then you gotta wonder, didn't they listen to this cd before deciding to release it? Hell, I mean someone had to have heard this album before it hit the presses! Honestly, if the guitars were turned up in the mix, this would be one heavy, speaker shakin' album. I'm still glad I got it though. I admire Body Count's determination to push on even if the world seems to leave them by the wayside. I liked them in 91, and I still like em now. And if you got respect for the band , this cd is at least worth a listen. Ice-T deserves that much, don't he?"

God awful

Schizoid | Canada | 09/29/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I'd call myself a pretty big Bodycount fan, and most people I know think that BC are a joke and ask me how I can like them. The first three discs were excellent. I like "Drive By", "Bowels of the Devil" "Dead Man Walking" as my favorite songs from their first 3 albums which were excellent. This disc, man I remember buying BC Violent Demise the day it came out the same with Born Dead when it came out, and I don't feel anything at all for this disc. I'll probably never listen to this disc again except out of obligation to the fact that I bought it, so that it would be alongside my other BC cds. The mixing is painfully bad, so much so that it interferes with all enjoyment of the disc. There is no guitar prescence whatsoever. The drum sound sounds almost like it was played on an electronic kit than a beefy live sound. Ice-T's vocals are way, way, WAY too loud in the mix. Which is unfortunate because it doesn't complement the songs, it just makes you real, real, sick of Ice after a few minutes. He's cool when he's talking about politics and terror and other street topics, but when there are more and more songs per BC album where Ice T is crooning/singing literally off key about trying to get girls, it makes you real embarassed for him that the song got that bad. Back to the production, whoever was at the mixing board on this disc was high. Everything about this release stinks "Bad bootleg" including the horrible cover art, but sad but true, we waited 8-9 years for a new album that was a total disappointment."

*** Body Count back in the House ***

Gavin Moore | Gateshead. England | 08/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although there was no certainty as to whether BC were going to be making any more records after the sad loss of D Roc (Rhythm Guitars) in 2004 and especially seen as this wasn't the first loss to hit the band as they also lost their first drummer Beatmaster V in 1997 and their bassist Mooseman was shot in a drive-by shooting in winter 2000 but through hell and high-water BC still manage to stay solid and make excellent albums somehow.



At last! Body Count make a return with the much anticipated `Murder 4 Hire', Ice T and Co (Ice T & Ernie C on guitars being the only originals) are back with another disk of quality rap-metal and believe me they do it best! Body Count changing the face of modern metal influencing the genre in the 90's by being the original Rap/Metal band.

This album features Body Count as they should sound but at the same time expand the horizons covering some personal subjects to religion, politics, war and terrorism, humour etc. The production is a little strange at first as the music seems a little thrown back over the vocals but more listens make you accustomed to this and from then on there's plenty to enjoy on the album, good stand-out tracks are `You Don't Know Me (Pain)', `Down in the Bayou', `Dirty Bombs' and `Relationships' even the outro `M. C's theme' is also an excellent instrumental track featuring some nice guitar work.

So, if you were a BC fan in the past and your not sure what they sound like now, have no fear they're still the band we know and love and if you haven't yet heard them and think you might like thm youi probably will. Buy it!

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