Clearly the warped minds of New Jersey’s Ho99o9 are fertile breeding grounds for a whole manner of new sounds, given this is their second release in a matter of months. Dead Bodies In The Lake sees the gruesome twosome pick up where they left off, namely with more exercises in mercilessly beating music to within an inch of its life, and that’s exactly what makes them so compelling.
This time around the parameters of the punk, hip-hop and noise elements are a bit less rigidly defined, though this smidge more fluidity has no effect on the uncompromising nature of it all. The jerking grind of Kill All Rats and Floating Corpse‘s skull-crushing density are absolutely horrible but equally enrapturing, while seconds-long blasts of Trash Talk-style hardcore that are Get A Grip and Kill You are the most normal, traditionally listenable things on here.
But really, given the end product, being listenable is most definitely not Ho99o9’s main aim – the likes of Twisted Metal and the acidic From The Bottom Of The Lake are ample enough pieces of evidence for that. No, Ho99o9’s aim is to be a true alternative to absolutely anything, and it’s something that Dead Bodies In The Lake is undeniably great at. Whereas bands mollycoddling their sound for radio play is all the rage, that a band like Ho99o9 even exists, a band that serve as such an unavoidable reminder of how raw music can actually be is definitely a good thing. In those terms, the only band Ho99o9 can really be compared to are an early Slipknot – anti-everything, nihilistic to the extreme and controversial, but not just for controversy’s sake.
It’s very unlikely that Ho99o9 will find the same success as Slipknot have, but the sentiment still stands – Dead Bodies In The Lake is as hostile and pugnacious as music comes, and while it’s not always pleasant, the impact it makes can’t be understated. And it’s hard to believe that Ho99o9 themselves don’t know that.
7/10
For fans of: Saul Williams, Cerebral Ballzy, Death Grips
Words by Luke Nuttall
‘Dead Bodies In The Lake’ by Ho99o9 is out now.
