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Dope Body have built their name in the underground with intense live performances of their also intense studio recordings. On the back of their second album, 2012’s ‘Natural History’, they embarked on a rigorous nineteen months of almost nonstop touring, bringing their individual performance stomp to every bar, basement and backyard that asked for it.

It’s easy to picture the members of Dope Body emerging from their distant and hidden cave of rock with a new wave of grimey, Sabbath-refracted mayhem in order to torch Earth once again but they’re actually a group of trained players and fine artists with vision.

On ‘Lifer’, Dope Body redefine the aural yawp they have been venting for some time, honing wild windmills into surgical strikes, their gut-busting repulsion-sound continuing to expand without losing any of the feral energy that made a crazed reputation in the already-insane Baltimore music and arts underground.

Zachary Utz’s metalloid guitar fingerprints are as uniquely rough and scabrous as ever but with a few new refinements added to his barrage. Andrew Laumann’s vocal bellow continues to incite a riot of excitement with each additional chorus. David Jacober’s power-and-precision drumming continues to grow in might and scope, driving the songs whether at peaks of volume or the depths of introspection. Plus, bassist John Jones, who joined following the recording of ‘Natural History’, contributes to the weird math of Dope Body’s nu-power trio with lines that perfectly expand the bounds for the band. When Dope Body converge to conceive of the next thing, the storm brews, songs are rocked out and written and we’re propelled into another sweaty go-round. This is a controlled demolition, planned but with room to take down additional structures.

Simply put, there’s a distinct-but-subtle evolution from one Dope Body record to another and ‘Lifer’ is no different. ‘Repo Man’ progresses the band’s songwriting, creeping on you and crooning with an oscillating bass groove before whipping into a frenzy. ‘Hired Gun’ gives us the pyrotechnics we want with a forward-evolving, 2014-style dynamic range of loud / soft / loud and a big-ass sing-along chorus. Where most Dope Body songs show lead singer Laumann’s rhythmic ability, ‘Rare Air’ exhibits his talent for constructing melody.

‘Lifer’ juggles the rough spark of Dope Body’s sound, shuffling slow burners and their previously (and righteously) established propulsive attack, making for a new yet satisfyingly heavy trip into the heart of Dope Body.