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Body Count are starting work on their ninth album, and it has a title: Death Wish. Ice-T confirmed it speaking to Metalshop, with the caveat that it’s a working title and the record is at least a year away — they’re starting from scratch, with the band building riffs before anything becomes a song. But the most revealing thing he said wasn’t about the music. It was about a meeting, and the rule he laid down in it.
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Scott Penfold digs into the Body Count news on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — the title, the timeline, the rule Ice-T gave his own band, and the streaming decision nobody else is talking about. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
The rule
Here’s the part that should be the headline everywhere and mostly isn’t.
Ice-T says the band had a meeting, and he told them all together: if they can’t make an album better than Merciless, they shouldn’t make another record. The object, as he puts it, is always to outdo the last album.
Read that again in the context of a band thirty-six years into their existence.
Merciless came out in November 2024 via Century Media, produced by Ice-T alongside Vincent Price and Will Putney, with guests including Corpsegrinder, Howard Jones, Joe Badolato and Max Cavalera. It was, by any reasonable measure, excellent — and it followed a Grammy win for Best Metal Performance for “Bum-Rush” off 2020’s Carnivore.
So the floor he’s just set is genuinely high. That’s not a band protecting a legacy. That’s a band saying the legacy isn’t worth protecting if the next record is worse.
Most acts at this stage don’t operate that way. Most acts at this stage put out a record because the touring cycle needs one.
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Why they keep getting heavier
Ice-T also explained the band’s continued drift toward heavier territory, and the answer is refreshingly unromantic.
Competition. He says when you’re out at festivals playing alongside harder bands, you want to compete. You see which way the music’s going, everybody gets influenced by everything else, and you listen to a band and think — I wish we’d made that song. Then you take that into the studio with you.
That’s how scenes actually function. Not mystique, not vision statements. Just standing at the side of a stage, watching somebody flatten a crowd, and going home irritated about it.
Buried in the same interview is something with much bigger implications than an album title.
Ice-T has finished a solo rap album called Criminal Migraine — and he’s not putting it on streaming. At all. It’s going out strictly through IceT.com.
His framing is the part that matters: that’s how they’re getting ready to sell all their records. They’re stopping the streaming.
That’s a Grammy-winning artist with a global platform walking away from the entire distribution model that the modern music business is built on. Whether that extends to Body Count releases isn’t spelled out, but “all our records” is a broad phrase and he chose it deliberately.
If it works, other people will notice. If it doesn’t, at least somebody with the leverage to try actually tried.
His answer: he writes the lyrics, and he’s personally stayed away from politics.
The reasoning is sharper than a simple no. He points to “Fuck What You Heard” on the last album, with its line about both wings being on the same bird, and says that at the end of the day it’s government regardless of which side you’re on. And on the current state of things, his position is that it’s so obvious to the world already that singing about it would be redundant. Everyone knows. So he’d rather write about things that are a bit more abstract.
Which is, in fairness, an argument. Protest music works when it tells people something. When the thing is already on every screen every day, a song about it is just another voice in the noise.
Thirty-six years, eight albums, and a band that shouldn’t still be this good
Some context on where Death Wish would land.
Body Count formed in Los Angeles in 1990, out of a friendship between Ice-T and guitarist Ernie C that goes back to Crenshaw High School. The first shot fired was the track “Body Count” on Ice-T’s 1991 record O.G. Original Gangster. The self-titled debut followed in 1992 and detonated — “Cop Killer” drew condemnation from President George H. W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, and the ensuing pressure got the song pulled from the album.
Eight studio albums since, through Born Dead, Violent Demise, Murder 4 Hire, Manslaughter, Bloodlust, Carnivore and Merciless. A Grammy in 2021. And a run of three consecutive records with Will Putney that Ice-T once described by calling Putney the Dr. Dre of metal — a producer who makes different bands sound like themselves, only better.
What’s happening: Body Count are starting work on their ninth studio album, with the working title Death Wish. Ice-T confirmed it in an interview with Metalshop.
When: at least a year away. The band are starting from scratch, building riffs before turning them into songs.
The rule: Ice-T told the band in a meeting that if they can’t make an album better than 2024’s Merciless, they shouldn’t make one at all.
Why they keep getting heavier: he credits playing festivals alongside harder bands and wanting to compete with what he hears.
On politics: he’s deliberately avoiding it, arguing the state of things is so obvious that singing about it would be redundant.
The other story: his solo rap album Criminal Migraine is bypassing streaming entirely, selling direct through IceT.com — and he says that’s how they’re getting ready to sell all their records.
FAQ
Is there a new Body Count album coming?
Yes, though it’s early. Ice-T has confirmed the band are starting work on their ninth studio album under the working title Death Wish. He says they’re beginning from scratch and estimates the record is at least a year away. No label, release date or tracklist has been announced.
What is the new Body Count album called?
Death Wish, though Ice-T describes it as a working title. It would follow 2024’s Merciless, released via Century Media Records.
Will the new Body Count album be political?
Ice-T says no. He writes the band’s lyrics and has said he personally stays away from politics, arguing that the current state of affairs is so obvious to everyone that writing songs about it would be redundant. He’d rather approach subjects more abstractly.
What was Body Count’s last album?
Merciless, released November 22, 2024 through Century Media Records. Produced by Ice-T, Vincent Price and Will Putney, it featured guest appearances from Corpsegrinder, Howard Jones, Joe Badolato and Max Cavalera, plus a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” featuring David Gilmour.
Is Ice-T leaving streaming services?
He’s said his solo rap album Criminal Migraine will not be streamed and will instead be sold directly through IceT.com, adding that this is how they’re preparing to sell all their records going forward. It isn’t yet clear whether that approach will extend to future Body Count releases.
Thirty-six years in and the frontman is telling his own band not to bother unless it beats the last one. More acts should work that way. Do you want a new Body Count record, or was Merciless the right place to stop? Tell us below. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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Going Up (to see him) – Sound and Atmosphere
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Going Up (to see him) – Performance and Production
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In the end, Garrett Anthony Rice creates a powerful narrative through “Going Up (to see him).” The entire production reflects a delicate blend of emotion and artistry that honors a friend lost too soon.
With its profound message and artistic finesse, this song resonates not just as a ballad, but as a heartfelt connection to experiences shared universally. This track will likely leave an indelible mark on those who listen, lifting spirits even amidst sorrow.
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