Body Count have been on an absolute tear throughout 2024, with the months-long lead up towards the band’s Merciless album thus far unveiling everything from psychopathic anthems to political rap-metal to Pink Floyd covers featuring David Gilmour on guitar. And now, just a day ahead of the record’s official November 22nd release, Ice-T and Co. have teamed with Revolver to premiere the torture-heavy music video for the album’s title track.
The song itself is a sly and sinister stomp-out sporting Sabbathian inverted guitar bends and hard-rasped lines from Ice on racism, wealth inequality and folks that have been “brutally stepped on, spit on [and] basically shit on” getting their revenge.
Certainly playing to the self-stylized “grindhouse metal” aesthetic Body Count have been honing for years, the new video — directed by Jay Scorcese — finds the BC crew kidnapping Klansmen for Ice to torture with a variety of wicked instruments (“You can cry, moan and plead… I don’t give a fuck”).
“The video for ‘Merciless’ is brutal. I think that video is going to cause a lot of shit,” Ice-T tells Revolver, adding, “It’s based on the movie Hostel, and the person we’re killing, people seem to think resembles someone, but that was not intentional so we’ll see how shit flies on this one.”
You can see the controversy-courting clip, which likewise riffs off of Merciless’ cover art, up above.
As previously reported, Body Count’s Merciless is out tomorrow (November 22nd) via Century Media. The Grammy-winning band’s eighth album features guest spots from Gilmour, Cannibal Corpse’s George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, Sepultura co-founder Max Cavalera and more.
Merciless tracklisting:
Interrogation Interlude
Merciless
The Purge (feat. Corpsegrinder)
Psychopath (feat. Joe Badolato)
Fuck What You Heard
Live Forever (feat. Howard Jones)
Do or Die
Comfortably Numb (feat. David Gilmour)
Lying Motherfucka
Drug Lords (feat. Max Cavalera)
World War