Montener the Menace is an MC from Croydon, South London, England, United Kingdom who I first caught wind of him during the COVID-19 pandemic when he released his full-length debut I Have a Hidden Hobby. Even though overloaded with features & the instrumentals sorta sounded similar to one another, dude definitely proved himself lyrically & the sophomore effort he followed it up with a year & a half ago Anyone Home?. But as 2022 draws to a close, Montener is looking to return in the form of his 3rd album.
The title track kicks off the album with an orchestral boom bap instrumental cautioning how miserable of a person that he considers himself to be whereas “Tomorrow’s Never Promised” featuring A-F-R-O & Skyzoo works in a crooning vocal sample talking about how life is short. “Gunslinger” however comes through with a western-tinged sequel to “High Noon” off Anyone Home? just before “Sliding Doors” returns to a more symphonic-based sound vividly telling the story of someone whose mother always referred to as her greatest mistake.
However with “Decisions”, we have Guilty Simpson as well as REKS & Skinnyman joining Montener for a lavish boom bap anthem about the choices you make in general leading into “Hate to Love” has a more rawer approach instrumentally discussing what hate & love mean to him. “Teachered Artist” laces some dusty drums & trumpets confessing that his mission is to teach, but then Verbz comes into the picture for the keyboard/string-laced “Juxtaposition” produced by Domingo talking about crooked cops.
“Movie Decade Crusader” is a soulful dedication for all the film buffs out there while the song “Running My Mouth” is a triumphant boom bap ballad talking his shit whenever he happens to pull up in town. The penultimate track “About Love” comes through with a 6 crazy & a half minute UK hip hop posse cut featuring 14 other MCs with the most notable being BVA, Ramson Badbonez & Sean Peng prior to the outro truly ending the album returning to the boom bap with a plucky loop advising to leave him alone unless you wanna go to war.
Anyone Home? showed some significant improvements over I Have a Hidden Hobby & The Miserable Git Next Door continues to do that in an impressive fashion 17 months later. The production on the album was a tad bit superior, but I admire that the overabundance of features are continuing to be toned down to a respectable volume as Montener continues to reveal himself as one of London’s most skilled underground MCs today.
Score: 3.5/5
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