Edged Circle Productions announces the signing of the Netherlands’ Bodyfarm. The first fruit of this union shall be the band’s fifth album, Ultimate Abomination, which will see international release on February 24th, 2023 on all formats.
Now, with the imminent arrival of Ultimate Abomination, Bodyfarm are poised to assert, once and for all, their domination over the death metal scene. The arrangements for the upcoming album were mostly written by founding guitarist Bram Hilhorst and bassist-turned-fellow-guitarist Alex Seegers, with the lyrics written by vocalist / bassist Ralph de Boer and drums by new arrival David Schermann. Naturally, every member contributed his own part to Ultimate Abomination, keeping the album fresh yet firmly within the core Bodyfarm sound. The result sees a surprising infusion of catchiness and The Groove: be it galloping like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, stomping slowly across the skulls of enemies, or rolling forward across the battlefield called life, Ultimate Abomination is a death metal maniac’s wet dream.
Lyrically, Ultimate Abomination focuses on psychological warfare. “Views from a violent and devastating psychological sight from the dark depths of our minds and human behavior,” expounds Hilhorst. “You can parallel it to ‘wars in the battlefield of life itself.’ The songs are all stories in themselves, but all relate to this subject.” Thus, the title Ultimate Abomination is an apt summary of all the lyrics written by de Boer for the album.
Part and parcel with Bodyfarm’s stellar songwriting across Ultimate Abomination is the album’s absolutely crushing production: very “live” and full-blooded, but polished just enough to exude maximum professionalism. Recording-wise, the drums for Ultimate Abomination were recorded by J.B. van der Wal at Soundlodge Studios, and the other instruments and vocals by the band at Studio Hilhorst. Mixing and mastering was done by Project Zero studios Belgium.
“We listen to different kinds of music in our genre, and this is also recognizable in the new songs,” Hilhorst continues. “The diversity of tempos and atmosphere is quite big. Old-school death ‘n’ roll to blackened death riffing, it’s all there, and we think the combination of it makes a unique sound.”
About signing with a new label and the upcoming release of Ultimate Abomination, “We are very happy that we signed with Edged Circle Productions,” Hilhorst enthuses. “And we have a lot of faith that we will have a good cooperation together in the future.”
[Photo: Stefan Schipper]
