BODY COUNT Announces June/July 2024 European Tour

BODY COUNT, the metal band fronted by hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T, will embark on a European tour in June. So far the following shows have been announced:

June 05 - Gdansk, Poland - Mystic Festival
June 01 - Hamburg, Germany - Edel Optics Arena
June 08 - Nürnberg, Germany - Rock Im Park
June 09 - Eifel, Nürburg, Germany - Rock Am Ring
June 11 - Berlin, Germany - Citadel Music Festival
June 13 - Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic - Rock For People
June 14 - Budapest, Hungary - Budapest Park
June 15 - Nickelsdorf, Austria – Nova Rock
June 16 - Zagreb, Croatia - SRC Salata
June 17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Komplex 457
June 18 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Les Docks
June 20 - Nummijarvi, Finland – Nummirock
June 22 - Copenhagen, Denmark – Copenhell
June 23 - Dessel, Belgium - Graspop Metal Meeting
June 25 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg – Rockhal
June 26 - Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
June 27 - Ysselsteyn, Netherlands - Jera On Air
June 28 - Clisson, France – Hellfest
June 30 - London, UK - 02 Kentish Town Forum
July 01 - Manchester, UK - The Ritz
July 02 - Glasgow, UK - SWG3 (Galvanizers)

BODY COUNT recently completed work on its new album, "Merciless". The follow-up to 2020's "Carnivore" is tentatively due later this year via Century Media.

In February 2023, Ice-T told Metal Hammer magazine about the musical direction of "Merciless": "I think we are staying in the same direction. [2014's] 'Manslaughter' was a reintroduction to BODY COUNT, not to just our old fans, but to a whole new group. [2017's] 'Bloodlust' was even better than 'Manslaughter', and 'Carnivore' was better than 'Bloodlust'. We're going to stay in the same vein, sound and production, but make better and better records."

In October 2022, Ice-T told Darren Paltrowitz, host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz", about the upcoming BODY COUNT LP: "Will Putney's producing again. We've had three consecutive great albums working with Will; he understands. I call him 'the Dr. Dre of metal,' because he has the ability to produce different groups but make them sound like themselves, but just better.

"We did 'Carnivore', and right [when] our first date of touring was supposed to start, COVID hit," he continued. "COVID hit, shut down all the stateside tour; 35 European festivals shut down; and we didn't really get to really perform the album; we didn't get to go out, and that kind of sucks.

"You make albums to perform 'em; you don't make 'em just [to sit at home]. And we won a Grammy on that one. That was great; that was a great accolade. It kind of took the sting out of dropping an album to a dead scene; it took the sting out of it. But then the label's, like, 'Okay, we'll do another album.' And I'm, like, 'Wait a minute. We didn't even really get this one out good."

Regarding how he goes about recording vocals for a new BODY COUNT album, Ice-T said: "Usually when I do songs, I'll do the songs but I don't complete 'em. Like, if there's gonna be three verses, I'll sing two and then I kind of live with them, and maybe that way I can think about how I wanna end the song and how I wanna change it up.

"I'm at a point now… When I first used to do albums, I would do, like, 20 songs and then try to pick 12. Now I'm very difficult to find the music, so by the time I pick 12, those are the 12 songs. I'm not doing a whole bunch of recording just to find that… I know what I'm doing. I'm like that photographer that knows how to just wait until the right moment to take the picture: 'Okay, that's one… two.' Versus the guy [who takes a bunch of pictures one after the other]. I don't need to do that.

"So the 'Merciless' album is sounding pretty hard, though," Ice-T added. "We named the motherfucker 'Merciless'."

"Carnivore" continued the path of its uncompromising and critically acclaimed predecessors, "Bloodlust" and "Manslaugther", in pairing Ice-T's impassioned and socio-critical lyrics with thick guitar riffs and nods to metal and hardcore greats like SLAYER, METALLICA, PANTERA, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Guest musicians on the LP included Amy Lee (EVANESCENCE),Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER),Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Riley Gale (POWER TRIP).

BODY COUNT was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, which was held in March 2021 in Los Angeles. BODY COUNT was nominated for "Bum-Rush", a track from "Carnivore".