Blast(beat) from the Past: Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus

Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus
Simian Hybrid Prototype
The Spew
2004
Thanks to Brutalex for encouraging me to dust off this spazz grind doozy by posting about post-Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus project Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky (both of which are unwieldy names, even in acronymed form) a while back.
Florida seems more famous for sweatpantsed death metal denizens and liverspotted retirees but America’s wang does have a toehold on grindcore greatness as well, courtesy of the mighty Assuck. After that band hung up its collective cleats, though, things get fairly grim until Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus stalked on to the scene, dismembered hooker in tow.
Unlike the XXX Maniacs and fourth gen Anal Cunt Xeroxes who think stringing together a few dirty words constitutes some new extreme in transgression, frontman Joshua Vitale’s descriptive lyrics contained the kind of smart details and offhand evil that make Acid Bath and Pig Destroyer so psychologically rich on songs like “Fuck Her Like You Paid For It” and “Last Words Can Be So Cliché.”
BitGotA also get the blue ribbon for penning a ditty praising Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall’s cinematic masterpiece Mannequin (“Love Affair With a Mannequin”) years before fellow freakazoids Cretin hit on the same idea (“Mannequin”).
Throw in Scott Hull production, Paul Romano artwork as bonus points -- what more do you need?

I always thought Bodies were on the verge of unleashing something truly extraordinary during their abbreviated life span (a split with Despised Icon on Relapse pretty much rounds out the discography), but the band just couldn’t seem to hold it together. Vitale would forge a one album partnership with fellow Floridian bean curd grinders Khann before exiting stage left while much of the musical muscle behind BitGotA would find a new home in Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky.