“Vengeance is better than sadness. Sometimes, anger is going to get you through tough times”: How Bodysnatcher made the most brutal album of the year so far

Two Empty Caskets was never meant to be prophetic. Its vivid description of a friend killed in a traffic accident by ‘a fucking drunk with no regard for life’, and the ensuing graphic revenge fantasy was meant to be just that: a fantasy.

Bodysnatcher’s Kyle Medina had just recorded the guttural vocals for the pulverising track, taken from their latest album, Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home. The next morning he awoke to the news that a friend of the band’s photographer had been killed that same night in a collision with an intoxicated driver accelerating the wrong way down the road.

“That was super crazy,” Kyle admits, still trying to wrap his head around events. “I tracked the song that same day and those things weren’t meant to be related, and then it became relevant. I've known people that have died that way, for sure. It's a bad way to die.”

Loved ones departing before their time is a reality with which the rising Floridian deathcore band are, sadly, all too familiar. Drummer Chris Whited lost both siblings to fatal overdoses of prescription opioids, and his nephew’s father to gang violence. Meanwhile, bassist Kyle Shope has seen ex-bandmate Ron Gilbert of Jersey heavyweights Float Face Down pass away too early. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that the unbridled fury which courses through Bodysnatcher’s fourth album is fuelled by a relatable sense of injustice.

“I think wanting vengeance is necessary at some level,” Kyle M posits. “Personally, I think it’s better than sadness because when you’re mad you’re not weighed down by that depression. Anger can get you through tough times. Lyrically and cathartically, I think it’s a good thing to write art based on those things because it's going to help somebody deal with those emotions.”

Speaking from a cow-print gaming chair, Kyle is actually a far more cheerful and enthusiastic presence than Bodysnatcher’s misanthropic output might suggest. A deathcore obsessive, he speaks with the same irrepressible excitement about discovering genre forerunners Catalepsy through swapping iPods with high school friends, as he does talking about touring Europe or befriending heroes in Fit For An Autopsy and Hatebreed. Drummer Chris’ old band, King Conquer, were local legends and a key influence on Kyle.

“I taught myself to sing from a YouTube tutorial by James [Mislow] from King Conquer,” he beams. “I absolutely fell in love with that band and Float Face Down.” With Chris producing Bodysnatcher’s debut Death Of Me, asking him to join when the drum stool opened up in 2017 was a no-brainer. Bassist Kyle S joined shortly after, with guitarist Kyle Carter of Beacons completing the line-up. “That was the turning point where I thought, ‘Okay, this is going to take us somewhere.’”

2021 beatdown single Rats In The Wall saw them gain traction alongside peers Lorna Shore as deathcore found a new notoriety on TikTok during lockdown. 2022 album Bleed-Abide solidified the band’s chemistry, while 2024’s Vile Conduct EP dialled up the aggression and featured a blistering guest verse from Jamey Jasta on Murder8.

When it came to topping Vile Conduct, it was super-producer Will Putney who urged the band to dig deeper into their anger.

“Will told us, ‘Okay, you’ve done sad. You’ve done overcoming. But Bodysnatcher shines best when it’s just all anger and hate!’” explains Kyle. “So we tried to make every song as mean and moshable as possible. The album benefits 100 per cent because it hits like a punch in the face.”

True to his word, Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home, is littered with tales of betrayal, abuse, revenge and violence. The Maker seethes with bile and putrid riffs, while elsewhere, Survive Or Die’s two-stepping hardcore hoolaginism continues Murder8’s trend of collecting hardcore legends like Pokémon with a guest spot by Terror’s Scott Vogel (“I would love to get Freddy Madball,” grins Kyle).

Unquestionably, May Your Memory Rot is the rancorous centrepiece. Written by Chris after taking stock of the senseless suffering his family has endured, he takes the mic to call out his abusive, estranged father with the killing blow: ‘Happy Father’s Day, Mike, Fuck you.’

“We had zero hesitation in putting that out there,” says Kyle. “Chris has gone through a lot. He doesn’t speak much about his emotions, so getting all of that negative hatred out in the songs really helps him a lot.

“Even though I may be good mentally right now, other people might not be so I want this album to be cathartic for them,” he concludes, before grinning and adding, “I also want people to hear it and be like, ‘Holy shit, I can't believe how mean and heavy this band is!’”

Hell Is Here, Hell Is Home is out now via MNRK Heavy

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