Ice-T and Body Count are back in the house

It seems like the exact right time for the revival of rapper Ice-T's veteran hardcore band, Body Count, who play three Australian shows in June. Their sixth album Bloodlust is out now, 25 years since the release of their debut self-titled album.

That album was defined by the controversy of Cop Killer, a song which became a flashpoint for debate about freedom of speech. It was also the same year of Rodney King's beating and a US racial divide that exploded with riots following the acquittal of police officers accused in the King case.

Body Count's line-up has changed since then (three of the band's original six members have died), but Ice-T says America still faces many of the same issues as in 1992. In the Trump era, there continues to be a racial divide, social inequality, police killings of black youths, poverty, crime and drugs issues. All of this is rich grist for Bloodlust.

"The situations we talk about on this record," says 59-year-old Ice-T from his New Jersey home, "they've been going on for 20 years. When we did the first record we were in this mode of Rodney King, all this wild shit was happening. Here we are now, all this time later and same shit is going on. We're singing about the same topics, but it seems like it's Body Count season again."

One of rap's elder statesmen and a constant presence on TV police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000, Ice-T's public image may have softened since Cop Killer, but on Bloodlust he sounds angrier than ever.

In 1992, Body Count was his vehicle to invent and play out violent fictional characters. On six albums, Ice-T has inhabited the personas of ruthless criminals, gang bangers and unhinged serial killers. On Bloodlust he diarises the thoughts of a home invader (Ski Mask Way), a revenge-obsessed criminal (This is Why We Ride) and a psychopathic serial killer (Here I Go Again).

"It's boring always writing about yourself," he says. "If you listen to Here I Go Again, you might think: 'Is Ice really a f---ing serial killer? Is there something I don't know about this mother---er?' The trick is to be able to become a character, to be so convincing in that character that people believe it's real."

Asked whether his songs depicting crime - such as Bloodlust's Ski Mask Way – are responsible for people imitating the songs in real life, Marrow struggles to articulate an answer.

"I have no idea," he says, after a long pause. "I mean…I don't know. Yeah, I think in some ways it could. For me to say no would probably be not true. But if someone listens to Ski Mask Way and decides they want to take on a life of crime, they're making some really bad decisions. I'm sure people have been influenced by all types of art and people are easily influenced, but I don't think that's my responsibility."