Pasto Flocco – “March Madness 3” review

This is the 4th mixtape from Queens rapper Pasto Flocco. Coming up as an associate of Lil Tecca, he’s seen quite the success off his own once branching out on his own by dropping his first 2 albums March Madness & Dreams 2 Reality along with a debut mixtape Surf to Kill (SGBSTK) as a member of the Surf Gang collective. Pasto rang in 2022 by dropping sophomore tape R.O.A.M. (Rich Off A Mic) under his newly founded Ghetto Luxury Entertainment & continued to build upon the sample drill sound on March Madness 2 in the spring & then Walking Glitch. He returned to a plugg sound few months ago on Rebirth & is now looking to close out the March Madness trilogy.

“James Harden (Dancing with the Stars)” is a quirky trap intro to the tape referencing Avengers leader Tony Stark or Iron Man owned by The Walt Disney Company subsidiary Marvel whereas “GLE Troopin’” cloudily represents Ghetto Luxury for roughly 90 seconds thanks to J6. “They Know!” produced by Maajins talks about everyone knowing he got swag while the self-produced “Dance Through the Storm” doesn’t shy away from detailing his recent hardships.

As for “Laughing When She Lie”, we have Pasto turning up the psychedelic trap vibes a bit laughing off his girl tryna cap to him just before the cloudy “Cali Breeze” talks about a hoe showing him ass after pissing him off although he shows her the door. “Been Gettin’ $” speaks on him gradually making paper & hanging with him not being so cheap, but then “Saddle River” dabbles with plugg flexing he got 5 Guys if it’s beef.

“$ the Route to the Evil” starts the 2nd half of March Madness 3 advising to stay clear from a certain type of people while “Reggie Bush” talks about doing too much with all these racks on him. “Fuckin’ 4 Getback” heads for a rage-inducing direction to discuss women saying they love him only for it to be bullshit later on while “Zoom!” maintains a hypertrap flare talking about how funny it is that people try to use him.

To get the 4th quarter of the tape going, “Flocc Chamberlain” works in some synths & hi-hats courtesy of Swervo of Vanguard Music Group boasting how fly he is likening himself to Wilt Chamberlain obviously while “Pour4Me” heavily relies more on synths talking about getting fucked up with him under the influence. “Why Slime Me?” goes for a spacious trap approach shrugging off the idea of him getting tired of rockin’ & rollin’ while “New $ New Gunz” wants to know what the fuck you doing if you ain’t making bread.

March Madness alongside March Madness 2 are both individually important to Pasto’s discography in their own rights & even though I don’t understand why he released the trilogy chapter at the beginning of May unlike both predecessors coming out in the exact month the saga is named after, I still enjoyed it as much as Rebirth when he made his return after 2 years. He’s obviously grown both personally & artistically almost a decade later with the production reaching the mark his most recent EP had set.

Score: 4/5

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The Pharcyde – “Timeless” review

The Pharcyde is a pioneering alternative hip hop crew from Los Angeles, California now consisting of Fatlip, Imani & Slimkid3. Originally a quartet, their first couple albums Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde & Labcabincalifornia would become some of the most beloved in the west coast scene. Plain Rap was more moderately received with Humboldt Beginnings & Spear of the Nation both leaving fans divided, looking to bounce back on this brand new EP & the 2nd one in their whole discography.

“Citrus Nioxide” featuring Danny Brown & produced by Rockwilder kicks off the 4-track run with everyone talking about having the answers to the questions on them always catchin’ em on the downslide whereas “Oscar” is the only song I could do without here suggesting they should be awarded for acting the way they do. The title track works in some prominent piano chords thanks to Rick Rock advising not to let life pass you by & “Phabulous” soulfully ties it up with the help of Khrysis reminding everyone who they are.

Nearly 3 years after reuniting without Bootie Brown as a trio, Timeless connects The Pharcyde’s legacy of offbeat humor as well as their jazz-laced beats & unconventional lyricism with a new era of experimental hip hop. With them being away from the scene for almost 2 decades, they took the time to highlight producers they’ve been fans of & help them craft the strongest batch of late career material in their arson.

Score: 3.5/5

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Lloyd Banks – “A.O.N. (All or Nothing 3): Despite My Mistakes” review

Queens, New York emcee Lloyd Banks celebrating his 43rd birthday by releasing his 20th mixtape. Gaining notoriety in the 2000s for his witty punchlines along as well as being an original member of G-Unit alongside childhood friends 50 Cent & Tony Yayo, he kept himself busy for a little while after the group’s disbandment in 2015 by releasing A.O.N. 2 (All Or Nothing 2): L.I.U. (Live It Up) & Halloween Havoc 3: 4 Days of Fury just before taking on a 5-year hiatus that really lasted until he received a song placement on the soundtrack for Griselda Records’ theatrical debut Conflicted along with the whole Course of the Inevitable album trilogy gaining renewed interest in the PLK himself. Halloween Havoc IV: The 72nd Hr came out roughly 6 months ago & is back already with the 3rd installment of the A.O.N. (All or Nothing) series.

“Determination” is this piano-laced boom bap intro talking about coming back moving differently & kicking ass whereas “If I Wake Up” suggests that he should already be dead with what he’s become in addition to the sacrifices made to be on top. “1982” featuring Ransom produced by Cartune Beatz aggressively reps the year Banks was born leading into “1 Life” shrugs off those never liking him with Haas Almahdi.

As for “Pick & Choose”, we have Lloyd talking about never following the paths of others since that’s why people end up taking Ls just before “Despite My Mistakes” featuring Styles P suggests shit happens for a reason & there being money to make. “Rolling” works in some horns to talk about always having to keep it moving regardless, but then “Endangered Innocence” featuring Ghostface Killah admits they wouldn’t change anything over a soulful Nicholas Craven instrumental.

“Art of Rap” returns to the boom bap giving his flowers to this culture that we’ve been calling hip hop for over 5 decades already just before “Perfect World” talks about taking your time still going for a hardcore vibe generally. TL TopOfDaLyne saves the tape’s weakest feature for “Dedication” although I very much respect the overall theme & the summertime feel to the beat while “Keep Pushing” once again delivers more grown man boom bap.

Moving on from there, “Traumatized” conceptually talks about everyone continuing to dream & them later justifiably regretting it if they don’t try at all while “Revolving Door” discusses the difficulty of looking at him when you know good & well he proved you wrong. “The Grudge” responds to everyone who thinks money can erase insecurities or reputation’s invincible until it bleeds while the highlight “No Info” talks about riding when the time’s right over an Olympicks beat.

“Upper Echelon” starts the final moments of A.O.N. 3: (All or Nothing 3): Despite My Mistakes on a jazzier note making it an effort to keep it moving with his back fully against the clock & getting back in his position whether people like it or not while “High Powered” officially sends off the tape with more jazz rap influences confessing the love he’s always had has been starting to change as of late.

Both of the previous entries in the A.O.N (All or Nothing) saga F.N.O. (Failure’s No Option) & L.I.U. (Live It Up) have quickly become amongst the most celebrated mixtapes of the previous decade, so finally getting Despite My Mistakes only 7 months after being announced didn’t disappoint because the hot streak he’s been on all decade since leaving G-Unit Records carries on.

Score: 4/5

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Kanye West – “DONDA 2” review

Chicago, Illinois rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, fashion designer, former G.O.O.D. Music founder & YZY SND’s sole proprietor Ye or formerly known as Kanye West finishing his 11th studio LP. Someone who I personally have considered a top 10 producer of all-time up until this point with 3 perfect 10s in his discography: The College Dropout, Late Registration & My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. However since late 2022, he has been on a mission to destroy his legacy by identifying as a Nazi on Alex Jones’ fake news platform InfoWars. He’s been taking it up a few notches for the past couple months on Twitter owned by Tesla CEO, SpaceX founder, Neuralink founder & fellow Nazi Elon Musk making comments that’re antisemitic, ableist, homophobic & misogynistic or dissing numerous celebrities including showing envy towards Kendrick Lamar since he’s on the throne of the rap game. Coming off his vile interview with child groomer DJ Akademiks earlier this month, Ye has randomly decided to finish Donda 2.

“True Love” was an average pop rap, alternative R&B, emo rap & boom bap intro produced with Mike Dean talking about how genuine romance shouldn’t be complicated with a surprisingly great hook from the late XXXTENTACION whereas “Broken Road” pondering what it means to find your soul on top of a doleful beat that original G.O.O.D. Music in-house producer Brian “AllDay” Miller had a hand with Ye in making & Don Toliver’s hook on here is so catchy. “Get Lost” goes a cappella looking back on all the good & bad memories of his life so far with an excessive amount of auto-tune slathering his vocals leading into “Flowers” throwing it back to the Graduation days in terms of sound courtesy of Digital Nas encouraging to send him $100k rather than the titular object.

As for “Too Easy”, we have Ye embracing a bit of a glitchier quality to the production thanks to Dem Jointz & Beach House discussing his trials & tribulations just before “Pablo” featuring Future follows it up with a trap cut that ATL Jacob, FNZ & $crim of the $uicideboy$ helped laced except Ye uses AI or what I like to call YeI for his verse. “Mr. Miyagi” featuring Future & Playboi Carti takes the drill route instrumentally likening themselves to the wise sensei from the Karate Kid films using more YeI until Future sticks around for “Happy” & it’s WAY better than “Pablo” other than the YeI from the peppier flare Wheezy delivers behind the boards to the subject matter asking the world if they look like they’re doing fine to them.

“Security” asserts that nothing can get in the way of him being with his family & Digital Nas’ production here almost reminds me of Yeezus in a way except Ak’s intro at the start was a sickening move while “Sci-Fi” works in some string sections as Sean Leon joins Ye in addressing his divorce from Kim Kardashian or The Hobbit now romantically involved with a Tesla robot. “Louie Bags” starts off great with its hypnotic beat & talking about boycotting LV after Virgil Abloh’s passing except Jack Harlow’s verse & the YeI ruin it. Can’t forget to mention the fact that Ye tweeted “Fuck Virgil” this February when his meltdowns began to worsen & has a song coming out at some point in the year called “Virgil Let Me Down” telling Ak it’s all because he’s evil.

Baby Keem appears with Quavo & Offset on “We Did It Kid” with Tom Levesque of Vanguard Music Group supplying additional production addressing the hardships they endured to achieve their current success & the product of their constant grind while the industrially drumless “Maintenance” talks about those who’s preservation or upkeep is constantly high. “Lord Lift Me Up” is a decent Vory solo cut BoogzDaBeast helped Ye cook up asking for God to lift up his spirits & “First Time in a Long Time” featuring Soulja Boy ends with them talking about Ye’s faith in God & his feelings stemming from his divorce from Kim using YeI as well as Big Draco’s humble beginnings & everything he’s done to achieve success. “Jesse” starts the deluxe run with a bubbly trap beat butchering it with YeI vocals while “Suzy” reminds me of Graduation minus the YeI. The final bonus track “City of Chi” gets plagued with YeI again talking about being closed for business.

Hearing the original version of this that came out 3 years ago, I’m happy & furthermore shocked than anything regarding Donda 2 finally getting to see the light of day except I don’t think those who won’t find themselves forgiving Ye for initially abandoning it won’t find themselves satisfied with it & I’ll argue the final product isn’t even that much better than the original was. The pop rap, trap, contemporary R&B, alternative R&B & gospel sound hasn’t really changed all that much except that the mixing is considerably worse since Mike Dean literally hasn’t had anything to do with Ye in 2 & a half years by now.

Score: 2/5

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Death Row Records – “Altar Call” review

Death Row Records is the infamous west coast hip hop record label based in Beverly Hills, California founded by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, The D.O.C., Dick Griffey & Harry-O. A dominant force in the sunshine state during the early & mid 90s, the label began to decline due to Dre departing for starting up Aftermath Entertainment in addition to Master P fresh off his AEW Dynamite appearance during The Opps’ celebration as the new AEW World Trios Champions this past week signing WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg to No Limit Records & of course 2Pac’s murder currently investigating to see if disgraced Bad Boy Entertainment founder Puff Daddy a.k.a. P. Diddy or Diddy was involved in ahead of his upcoming sex trafficking trial. Snoop would buy Tha Row from MNRK Music Group the week of his Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance & has cleaned the label up by reviving it from the gamma. distribution deal to signing O.G.s like Tha Dogg Pound & Danny Boy or newcomers such as Merkules & D Smoke. Commemorating what would’ve been Snoop’s mother Beverly Tate’s 74th birthday, Death Row is releasing their 10th compilation album as a sequel to the RCA Records-backed Bible of Love.

“Mother I Miss You” by John P. Kee is this self-produced gospel intro dedicated to Snoop’s late mother whereas “No Backsliding” by Michael Bereal continues the Sunday Service thanks to his brother Charlie behind the boards singing about being too blessed to be stressed. “You Can Win” by Flintstone & Lisa Santa Cruz brings the duo together over a DJ Green Lantern instrumental promising victory if you keep your hands to the sky while “Redeemed” by Jane Handcock & Kanobby finds them achieving redemption over a Soopafly beat.

Curt Chambers makes his plea to God over some churchy choir vocals & organs for “Ready, Willing, Able” declaring his willingness to depend on the higher power just before “Been to Good to Me” by Flintstone sings about how great the Lord has been to them over a slow Mike & Keys instrumental. “Won’t He Do It” by Jazze Pha blends gospel & trap talking about putting God above everything always leading into “Grandma’s Hands” by Jamie Foxx acoustically remembers his grandmother.

“Help Me Jesus” introduces The Death Row Choir calling for the Son of Christ himself to help them during the hard times they’re going through while “Just Believe” by Jane Handcock mixes some organs & synthesizers singing about one having a lot on their mind with difficulty trying to find happiness. “Grace & Mercy” by Charlie Bereal gives off the Curtis Mayfield flare he’s known for asking for those 2 things respectively, but then “Like I Know God” by October London sings over pianos about not knowing God the way he does.

Uncle Snoop himself joins Charlie & Reo Varnardo whose daughter is the current AEW tbs Champion, 新日本プロレス STRONG女子チャンピオン & RPW British Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné on the gospel rap hybrid “Brand New” feeling reborn while “Call His Name” by Camille Grisby encourages to call for God & Jesus’ names whenever you’re lonely. “A Still Mind” by mR. pOrTeR formerly of D12 with Robert Glasper on piano confidently declares he’s got his feet set on the ground while “Never Failed Me Yet” by Mali Music sings about God never failing them.

“Yes” by Laura Wilson Johnson passionately gives in to the ways & will of the higher power while “Good Day” by Point 5ve formerly Lil’ ½ Dead has a funkier soul approach keeping their peace of mind when it’s all said & done. “Done” by Charlie Bereal & Mali Music acoustically admits they don’t know what to do without God while “He is God” by Michael Bereal sings about healing when wounded. “Make Time” by Flintstone ends by smoothly asking if time can be made for.

My expectations for Altar Call were pretty low since Bible of Love wasn’t that good at all in my respectful opinion & the sequel surprisingly reflects on Beverly teaching Snoop to use his voice & his platform to spread love & heal the world similarly to his 2013 pop reggae album Reincarnated produced by Major Lazer back when I was a sophomore in high school. Some interesting names pop up during the production credits & the list of performers are stronger than they were 7 years ago.

Score: 3.5/5

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RJ Payne – “Triangle D’or” review

This is the 15th EP from New York emcee & revered battle rapper RJ Payne formerly known as Reign Man. Building up an extensive solo catalogue for himself with 24 mixtapes as well as well as his last dozen EPs & 4 full-length albums, Benny the Butcher even signed RJ to Black Soprano Family Records for a brief period of time & putting out some of best material like Leatherface & Square Root of a Kilo under Benny’s ever-growing indie label of his own. My Life’z a Movie produced by Stu Bangas quickly became my favorite LP in RJ’s discography & Enemy Soil Entertainment in-house producer C-Lance went on a trip with him to The Barbershop, coming off Erick Sermon producing a 3-Piece to have Drega33 fully produce Triangle D’or.

“Quinconces” is this soulfully drumless intro talking about being in the top 10 conversations when it comes to checking off all the boxes whereas “Paris Attack” keeps the drums out of the equation asking not to anger the Lord since he’s giving everybody heavenly music. “Brings to Me” maintains a chipmunk soul vibe likening his flow to the strength of cocaine while “Coffee or Tea” talks about the world waking up recognizing the Payne.

The song “Elegant Payne” starts the 2nd & final half of Triangle D’or by aggressively making it known to these other rappers that they’re levels behind him lyrically while “Splendid” pulls from chipmunk soul once again talking about leaving the red carpet covered in DNA if anybody crosses him. “Final Boss” concludes Triangle D’or with 1 last drumless track boasting about his soul not being for sale & his appetite being elite compared to others.

Coming off the 4th installment of the Leatherface saga a couple weeks ago, Drega33 comes fresh off producing both entries of the Lethal Weapon series of EPs by making Triangle D’or the most I’ve enjoyed a body of work from RJ Payne in a couple months. The production heavily draws upon the sounds of drumless chipmunk soul lyrically spitting some of that international Payne ahead of his upcoming collab effort with Method Man.

Score: 4/5

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Diorvsyou – “So Cunt.” review

Atlanta, Georgia up-&-comer Diorvsyou with his 2nd EP of the year & the 4th in his discography overall. Coming up in 2021 off his debut EP Scoreboard, it wasn’t until I saw him open up for southsidesilhouette in Brooklyn the following November where I was personally introduced to his music & I was actually impressed with his set. The next EP w.t.f.i.dvy? (who the fuck is diorvsyou)? marked a bigger breakthrough for him artistically & returned up from the Ashes almost a year since Diorvsrxlvnd’s eponymous debut. The previous EP Untitled EP.9 came out a couple months ago & is already keeping himself busy with So Cunt..

“Slit Ya Throat” produced by Devstacks & Goxan is this regalia intro looking to swag all of his sorrows away & tryin’ not to pop shit even if it may seem difficult whereas “Nosferatu” works in a psychedelic trap instrumental talking about feeling like an extraterrestrial vampire. “I.S.S.” brings a plugg flare to the table thanks to Devstacks once more telling his hoe to be grateful & keep faithin’ leading into “I Wonder” taking a moment to think about whether or not if any of this shit means anything to him & Devstacks applying even more pressure behind the boards.

The quirky synthesizers from 406ahmad on “Outta Hea” are a nice touch being on whole new levels of zooted just before Cade gives “1 Mistake” a cloudier vibe referencing Boston Celtics player Jayson Tatum. “Rob a Bank” gets back on the plugg tip having his twin watching his flank during a robbery while “Royal Rumble” makes comparison to WWE’s signature 30-man battle royale in light of this year’s winner Jey Uso dethroning Gunther to become the new World Heavyweight Champion last weekend. “Pissed” closes with an ode to the rockstar life that MexikoDro laced wanting to die in a mosh pit.

Dior is somebody in the regalia subgenre of plugg music I’ve been covering for several years up until this point & I would HIGHLY suggest you listen to So Cunt. or really the whole Diorvsyou catalog for anyone reading this who got introduced to regalia through the new Dave Blunts album You Can’t Say That getting the polarizing reception it deserves. The best regalia producer in the game Devstacks producing half of this was a great call & Dior is a far more captivating performer than Dave Blunts ever could be.

Score: 4/5

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Nowaah the Flood – “The Anomaly” review

Dallas, Texas emcee Nowaah the Flood surprise-releasing his 23rd EP on Bandcamp. Breaking out in the summer of 2018 by releasing his first EP Trill Life Mathematiks around the same time as Nas’ 11th album NASIR fully produced by Ye formerly known as Kanye West, he would go on to drop 21 EPs along with The Nowaah & the Dewer’s eponymous debut album and roughly his last 6 proper full-lengths. Standouts for me personally include the DirtyDiggs-produced Private Stock, the Estee Nack collaborative effort Planted Seeds, The Infallible, the Stu Bangas-produced Respectfully, the Giallo Point-produced Right Over Left & it’s sequel, the DJ D-Styles-produced Crème de la Crème, the Kyo Itachi-produced Sudan Samurai Scrolls & recently Plans of the Diligent last Thanksgiving alongside Beluga roughly a month ago. Giallo Point coming back for The Anomaly caught my attention & I had to give it a listen.

“Afwaan” is this drumless intro reflecting on Ye biting the Trill Life Mathematiks artwork for NASIR similarly to how Maxo Kream has accused Ye of biting the Punken artwork for Bully whereas “The Mental” takes the boom bap route instrumentally talkin’ that science to each & every one of us. “Hate to Be You” works in some tubas & bagpipes admitting the state of sickness his mind is at while “Sazon” hits everybody with the Shaman flow.

To begin The Anomaly’s final half, “Fortune 500” ruggedly talks about being a certified art stealer who’s hard to figure out & has never fronted putting it on God leading into the aptly-named “Menace Anthem” darkly fuses hardcore hip hop & boom bap both aesthetically & lyrically. “The Meek” suggests that there won’t be an overtime for anyone trying to take him on making it clear to stay catching Ws in rap battles & the final song “Revelation of the Sundanese” feels a little unfinished after starting it off with a verse attached onto an half baked outro.

Aside from that, I don’t really have any other complaints about this EP since a vast majority of the material here during the 20 minute run turns the back-to-back caliber of quality underground hip hop that Plans of the Diligent & Beluga both had to offer into a 3-peat. Giallo Point’s production is a consistent blend of drumless & boom bap with Nowaah handling all the performances by himself instead of having only 1 feature like he did last month on Beluga similarly to Plans of the Diligent not having any guests.

Score: 4.5/5

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Ghost – “Skeletà” review

Ghost is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Linköping, Östergötlands län, Sweden consisting of percussionist Olivia Morreale, keyboardist/percussionist Mad Gallica, keyboardist/percussionist Laura Scarborough, baritone guitarist/percussionist Jutty Taylor, drummer Hayden Scott, bassist Cos Sylvan, rhythm guitarist Randy Moore, lead guitarist Per Eriksson & of course frontman Tobias Forge. Breaking out nearly 15 years ago off their debut Opus Eponymous, their sophomore effort Infestissumam marked their debut on Loma Vista Recordings to initially mixed reception although it’s viewed more favorably in retrospect. Meliora came out after I graduated high school was my introduction to them, seeing the band on the tour they did for it & put on a theatrically superb performance. Prequelle toned it down on the heaviness although “Dance Macabre” got the stamp of approval from former NXT Champion, AEW World Trios Champion & PWG World Tag Team Champion Aleister Black married to the new WWE Women’s United States Champion Zelina Vega in addition to the inaugural AEW World Champion, FTW Champion, 2-time ROH World Champion, ECW World Television Champion, IWGPインターコンチネンタルチャンピオン, WCW World Television Champion, 6-time WWE world champion, record 9-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 2-time WWE United States Champion, 7-time WWE tag team champion, 4-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion & WWE Hardcore Champion Chris Jericho and Impera is widely regarded as their weakest effort so far, taking 3 years off to focus on the band’s 6th studio LP.

“Peacefield” sets the tone of what’s to come with it’s prominent AOR & hard rock influences with additional elements of heavy metal dashed in describing at present a state of chaos & despair whilst instructing how to achieve renewal whereas “Lachryma” talks about being done crying over the restrictions of religion. “Satanized” maintains a hard rock/AOR vibe sprinkling a couple heavy metal & glam metal undertones asking to be saved from the monster eating inside of him, but then “Guiding Light” continues with a soul searching epic ballad.

To end Skeletà’s first half, “De Profundis Borealis” pays homage to one of the most important bands in the Norwegian black metal scene Immortal while “Cenotaph” receives affirmation of eternal presence of the memory of a loved one who has passed away. “Missilia Amori” sings about someone excited to be his demise just before “Marks of the Evil One” references the antichrist further including a line that had me think of the Death Riders led by the current 4-time AEW World Champion, former AEW International Champion, 2-time CZW World Heavyweight Champion, GCW World Champion, IWGPヘビー級チャンピオン, 2-time IWGP USヘビー級チャンピオン, WWE Champion, 3-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion & 2-time WWE tag team champion Jon Moxley. “Umbra” puts their love in the darker shadows & “Excelsis” embraces us all meeting or demise 1 day.

Nevertheless of Impera’s mixed reception, Ghost recovers by delivering their most unflinchingly introspective work to date including lyricism of the newly instated Perpetua & showcasing a variety of distinct individual emotional vistas embracing the sounds of hard rock, occult rock, AOR, pop rock, heavy metal & glam metal. Almost a decade this summer since I became a fan & I’m only happy they made up for the predecessor’s mixed discourse.

Score: 3.5/5

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Mike Dean – “4:25” review

This is the 6th studio LP from Houston, Texas producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & one of the greatest audio engineers of all-time Mike Dean. Pioneering the dirty south sound in the 90s as an in-house producer for Rap-A-Lot Records, one may also know him for engineering nearly all of Ye formerly known as Kanye West’s output up until his 2022 antisemitic meltdown calling himself a Nazi on InfoWars. 4:20 was a 90 minute exploration into progressive electronic & the nearly 2 hour sequel 4:22 continued towards that trajectory. Smoke State 42222 went for more of a straight-forward electronic sound with additional elements of space ambient & even Mike’s last LP 4:23 went head-on synthwave, landing a spot on my Honorable Mentions of 2023 list as a result of being more well-put together than his last couple solo efforts. Almost a year to day since 4:24, I wasn’t too surprised regarding 4:25

“In Paradisum” keeps the tradition alive hooking up these prominent synth-organ melodies that immediately grab your attention whereas “Scream” kinda gives me a progressive electronic vibe that I generally enjoy with this shrilling scream sample occasionally popping up. “Late Night” shows off the space ambient influences that’ve been prevalent since when he began making solo output 5 years ago.

Meanwhile on “Colour”, we have Mike blending elements of synthwave that’ve also been displayed on 4:20 just before what could probably be my personal favorite song here “Sax Sector” goes full-blown nu jazz & pulling it off as perfectly as I would’ve expected him to. “Trancy” gets back in his progressive electronic bag for roughly 3 minutes until “Messenger” embraces the synthwave elements once more as

“Bluey” not to be confused with The Walt Disney Company owned Disney Jr. hit series phenomenon in the midst of having a theatrical film set to be released in 2027 continues to bring a progressive electronic flare to the guitar including an electric guitar during it’s final moments, but then “Eyes Closed” swaps out the prog-rock undertones of the previous joint in favor of ambient to a similarly lesser extent.

The song “Half Awake” hits the backend of 4/25 maintaining the prog electronic edge throughout except now the hints of prog-rock & ambient are borrowing from western classical musical becoming not as a prevalent as the other 2 were while “411425” goes full-blown drum & bass to my excitement. As far as the closer “The End”? It’s an exciting collision between these guitars & synthesizers.

Halfway through the decade that he started carving a path for himself as a solo artist & 4:25 encapsulates everything that has made him stood out on his own individually from when he first started. His progressive election heavy production additionally pulls from synthwave, nu jazz & space ambient carrying on what Kraftwerk laid the foundation for half a century ago at this point.

Score: 4/5

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