BODY COUNT Releases 'Psychopath' Single From Upcoming 'Merciless' Album

BODY COUNT, the metal band fronted by hip-hop legend, actor and director Ice-T, is back with "Psychopath", its first new single since 2020's "Bum-Rush", which won a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance". The explosive new track, which features FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY vocalist Joe Badolato, shows Ice-T and crew on maximum killing overdrive and primed for the next chapter of the legendary Los Angeles-based band's 35-plus-year career. Longtime collaborator Will Putney (KNOCKED LOOSE, THE GHOST INSIDE) produced the song, which was released today via Century Media Records.

"Psychopath" is taken from BODY COUNT's upcoming album, "Merciless", the follow-up to "Carnivore", which was released to critical acclaim in March 2020, just a week before COVID shut the entire world down.

Regarding how "Psychopath" came together, Ice-T told Consequence: "It started with the music. It sounds like what it's like to be in a psychopath's head. The track was psychotic, and it needed me to sing about something crazy."

This past February, 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."

Last October, 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'."

BODY COUNT's European "Merciless" tour will kick off on June 5 at Mystic festival in Poland and will bring the band to some of the world's biggest festivals and venues, across more than a dozen countries. After returning to the States, they will perform at Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky and Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California.

For BODY COUNT, it's been a history of being both respected and feared — a barbed-wire thread that stretches back to the band's origins as a project between Ice-T and Crenshaw High friend Ernie C. Their first shot fired, the song "Body Count", was a mission statement on Ice-T's 1991 "O.G. - Original Gangster". That's the blueprint they've been running on for more than 35 years.

They touched a nerve with their first, self-titled 1991 album and its divisive track "Cop Killer", which inspired hatred, fear, and paranoia, but also inspired generations of bands to follow. What they took from growing up with BLACK SABBATH and being inspired by fellow L.A. legends like SLAYER and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES has only upped the ante for generations of homies and hardcore fans.

BODY COUNT's current line-up includes surviving O.G.s Ice-T, Ernie C. and Sean E. Sean joined by bassist Vincent Price, drummer Will "Ill Will" Dorsey, Juan "Juan Of The Dead" Garcia and backing vocalist Little Ice.

"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".

Photo credit: Alessandro Solca