Dirtcore Music – “Overkill” review

This is the 2nd showcase compilation from Grand Rapids, Michigan independent record label Dirtcore Music founded by local rapper, singer/songwriter & producer Crossworm. The latter of whom was sole artist officially signed for its first 2 decades of existence until bringing Samson Samson whom he formed Bodies Below Sea Level with, Madd Maxxx, Mumm Ra, Sleep Lyrical, J Reno whom he formed Misery Coast with & Grounds all on board. Others such as Gavyn Gunn & Oblivia have spent a brief amount of time signed to Dirtcore with Gavyn’s debut EP Malevolent being a great start to his ongoing trilogy, celebrating Devil’s Night with Overkill.

Crossworm eerily starts with a self-produced intro “Halloween Sucks” talking about him spraying mace at anyone who knocks on his door whereas “The Veil” by J Reno takes the trap route instrumentally discussing the boundary between life & death. “Mask On” by Sleep Lyrical shows a bit of a Memphis influence being in the kitchen with evil eyes every Halloween while “Agree to Disappear” by Madd Maxxx speaks to his therapist on wax.

“CR4V3 M3” by Samson Samson embraces a funky industrial direction talking about a woman who’s yearning for him just before “The Old Man” by J Reno returns to the boom bap vividly describes a house usually skipped during trick-or-treating being the only 1 in town this year. “The Warning” by Mumm Ra aggressively asks if anyone wants smoke with him because he ain’t got shit to lost leading into “The Dead Can’t Die” by Crossworm industrially talking about the undead being immortal.

Misery Coast comes off their eponymous debut EP earlier this week with the dusty “Never Woulda Guessed” confessing they didn’t imagine themselves winding up 6 feet in the ground while the horrorcore/industrial “Scream” by Samson Samson talks about making innocent victims shriek when walking in the room. “Demon Me” by Madd Maxxx & Sleep Lyrical bodies a trap beat together feeling lost out their minds while the outro “Nobody” by Grounds sends off the compilation with a metal closer kin to his debut EP Walking into Tragedy.

Dirtcore last Christmas finished 2024 with Dirtcore Music by compiling a collection of songs that’ll get the average listener who hasn’t heard of with the label familiarized with who everyone is from an artistic standpoint & a little bit as people. As far as Overkill’s concerned, they’re switching it up by having the entire roster penning songs that celebrate Samhain through a mix of styles from horrorcore & industrial music to metal & a small dosage of spoken word.

Score: 4/5

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Misery Coast – Self-Titled review

Misery Coast is a horrorcore & production duo consisting of Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm and Windsor, Ontario, Canada rapper/producer J Reno. These guys have already been established within the underground wicked shit scene individually for over a decade or 2 already, forming last Christmas after having a couple tracks land on the Dirtcore showcase compilation. Some of the label’s acts had the honor of performing at the Gathering of Legends or the 25th annual Gathering of the Juggalos this summer & with Hallowicked festivities in a few days, Misery Coast’s looking to introduce themselves by releasing a brand new EP.

After the “Coast is Cursed” intro, the first song “Dance with the Devil” begins with a cold-blooded boom bap instrumental talking about sitting beside a fire where the lost souls go whereas “I Fuckin’ Do” takes a rap rock approach to the beat flexing they have the keys to a dead city. “Feed the Fear” talks about death always being nearby no matter how far any one tries to run from it & a haunted heartbeat stealing sleep leading into the “Coast is Clear” interlude.

“Welcome to” starts the 2nd half of the extended play with Crossworm & J Reno by dabbling with trap advising to disregard all the corpses beneath them looking to cause more than simply disorderly conduct while “The Ghost of Who I Used to Be” returns to the boom bap with some sampling talking about seeing part versions of themselves. “Is It Even Halloween?” celebrates the upcoming holiday with a 2 & a half minute wicked shit heater while “1 Last Cloud” finishes by talking about being born with violent cores.

Similarly to what Bodies Below Sea Level did with their eponymous debut album at the very beginning of November immediately following the previous Hallowicked season, it’s Misery Coast turn to properly introduce themselves as a group with a 21 minute EP providing depressive wicked shit for the hopeless & J Reno continuing to bring Crossworm right back to his hip hop roots in time for this weekend.

Score: 4/5

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Crossworm – “Shelter Skelter” review

Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm quickly following up Dirtwave with his 5th EP. Starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the full-length solo debut Phoenix, this was followed up by a sophomore LP Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. Taking a few years off after the latter, he returned in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more albums: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. I’ve covered the Gōst EP along with the synthpop inspired ANTI & of course the eponymous Bodies Below Sea Level debut, coming off an EP couple weeks ago by making another stylistic departure on Shelter Skelter.

The title track starts with a witch house intro that sounds like it could be played at the end of an episode during the upcoming 5th & final season of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things whereas “Condemned” takes a prominently industrial direction instrumentally kinda like the Bodies Below Sea Level album without the hip hop fusion. “Oubliette” dabbles with the darksynth subgenre of synthwave additionally using a drum machine prior to “Bones in the Cellar” finishing the way he started in the form of another witch house cut.

When you look at the Depeche Mode influence on ANTI almost 2 years ago & the industrial horrorcore concept of Bodies Below Sea Level’s wider introduction to the underground as a team, Shelter Skelter gives a shot at making industrial & witch house music taking a break from rapping or singing to cook a few beats catered around the experimental style of music emerging out of 70s punk & sprinkling in hints of crunk shoegaze occasionally for a little over 10 minutes.

Score: 3.5/5

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Crossworm – “Dirtwave” review

This is the 4th EP from Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm. Starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the full-length solo debut Phoenix, this was followed up by a sophomore LP Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. Taking a few years off after the latter, he returned in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more albums: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. I’ve covered the Gōst EP along with the synthpop inspired ANTI & of course the eponymous Bodies Below Sea Level debut, dropping off not 1 but 2 EPs this month.

“Losing You” kicks off the Dirtwave with a synth-pop intro singing about needing & wanting to get rid of somebody to no avail whereas “Meet Me at My Grave” works in a guitar sample & synthesizers explaining that everything they wouldn’t dare say being in the middle of them. “Watch Us Die” featuring THE H0LL0W goes for a summer vibe advising to sit back & watch their demise while “Out in Space” is another great synth-pop cut. “Drown Me” featuring Grounds gets heavier asking to be drowned if they become weak & “Beyond the Grave” finishes by throwing it back to late 2000s/early 2010s-era LINKIN PARK.

Pretty sure that we were gonna get Shelter Skelter before Dirtwave since that was initially teased a month ago, but I’m fine with it being held off for a couple weeks for a 19 minute EP that recaptures the Depeche Mode influences prominently displayed throughout ANTI a year & a half ago as a warm up to Shelter Skelter since it’s more based around industrial & witch house music. His singing feels reminiscent to the late Chester Bennington at times, both remixes take their original versions to greater levels of quality & Crossworm’s versatility continues to extend further.

Score: 3.5/5

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Dirtcore Music – “Dirtcore” review

Dirtcore Music is an independent record label based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan founded by local rapper, singer/songwriter & producer Crossworm. The sole artist officially signed for its first 2 decades of existence until bringing Samson Samson whom he formed Bodies Below Sea Level with, Madd Maxxx, Mumm Ra, Sleep Lyrical, J Reno whom he formed Misery Coast with & Grounds all on board. Others such as Gavyn Gunn & Oblivia have spent a brief amount of time signed to Dirtcore with Gavyn’s debut EP Malevolent being a great start to his ongoing trilogy & the rest of the current roster dropping off a showcase compilation on Christmas.

“You Can Get It” by Grounds, Mumm Ra, Samson Samson & Sleep Lyrical produced by Crossworm follows the “Good Evening” intro fusing electronic & trap to -leave enemies toe-tagged whereas “Burn It All Down” by Bodies Below Sea Level industrially finds themselves in a pyromanic type of mood. “The Split” by Misery Coast & Sleep Lyrical meshes these acoustics & hi-hats to talk about this being their life’s work prior to “Kill Em All” by Madd Maxxx & Misery Coast spitting the wicked shit over a trap instrumental.

Madd Maxxx gets his own solo cut with “Zatoichi” aggressively promising to take you out over a cold blooded aboom bap instrumental from J Reno leading into the cutthroat “Landmine” by Madd Maxxx & Misery Coast talking about rollin’ with villains & henchmen. “Keep You Safe” by Grounds, Madd Maxxx & Sleep Lyrical aesthetically somewhat reminds me of 1,000 Suns/Living Things era LINKIN PARK just before “Wear Them Kicks” by Madd Maxxx after an interlude from Dirtcore’s label manager Bando suggests to slide by him if you wanna try him.

“Heavy Babies Weigh Too Much” by Grounds teases his upcoming EP Walking into Tragedy this spring with a self-produced alternative rock track that breaks down during the 2nd half of it but once “Ill” by Madd Maxxx & Samson Samson gets back in their wicked bags decimating a boom bap instrumental, Bodies Below Sea Level goes into “Killmode” for the final song on the comp with the occasional guitars reminding me of “My Last Breath” by Evanescence serving as the entrance theme of former 2-time AEW TNT Champion, AEW World Trios Champion, 2-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, TNA World Champion, 6-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE Hardcore Champion, 9-time WWE tag team champion & The Patriarchy leader Christian Cage.

Making my holiday season a little better, all 8 artists get together to end what’s been an outstanding year for music by compiling a collection of songs that’ll get the average listener unfamiliar with Dirtcore familiarized with who everyone is from an artistic standpoint & a little bit as people. The production from the trio of in-house producers displays the Grand Rapids imprint’s prominently underground wicked shit sound & expanding beyond it for industrial music, rock music, boom bap, electronic rock & trap signaling that everything they’ve done these past few years was only the beginning.

Score: 4/5

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Crossworm – “ANTI” review

Crossworm is a 42 year old recording artist & producer from Grand Rapids, Michigan starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the full-length solo debut Phoenix. This was followed up by a sophomore LP Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. Crossworm took a few years off after the latter only to return in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more albums: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. Coming off his 3rd EP Gōst this past spring, that was all building up to the 7th LP in the Dirtcore Music founder’s discography & the 10th solo effort overall if you include all 3 EPs that I previously mentioned.

After the “Play” intro, the first song “Finally Alive Again” opens the album by setting the tone for it singing over synthesizers that he took a lesson from the brave whereas “Everything Changed” delves further into synth-pop territory singing that he needs his significant other here with him. “It’s Unheard Of” gives me a bit of an industrial vibe continuing to sing that he doesn’t know how it all came to him just before the quasi-funky “Candy” talks about trying to find something sweeter.

“Your Misery” points out that there’s no one out here in the street other than you & him over another synth-pop beat leading into “Get Out of Here” by Bodies Below Sea Level talking about finding themselves in these long waters they’re treading accompanied by an electro-pop instrumental. “Slovenly” makes it clear people tried to turn him at the stake again & he barely made it out alive with some rock undertones musically, but then “Burn” featuring Oblivia bringing back the funk a little covering The Cure joint of the same name.

The penultimate track “Protogeist” shoots for a spacier approach to the beat admitting that he’s on the fence of someone he used to be & someone that he’s actually never been in the past prior to “Feel” featuring Good Spells rounding out the LP on a cloudier note talking about feeling this woman whenever he breathes & knowing from when he sees it that them being a couple wasn’t meant to be.

This dude has always displayed his versatility over these past couple decades & for ANTI, he makes a stylistic departure from the horrorcore sound that he came up on in favor of drawing inspiration from synthpop music. His singing is reminiscent to that of the late LINKIN PARK frontman Chester Bennington & the production he cooks up is more reminiscent to that of Depeche Mode.

Score: 4/5

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Crossworm – “Gōst” review

Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm preluding his 7th album ANTI this fall with his 3rd EP. Starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the solo debut Phoenix, this was followed up by a sophomore effort Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. He took a few years off after the latter only to return in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more LPs: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. Nearly 3 years since the latter, the Gōst has returned to haunt the underground.

After the “Morgue Song” intro, “Rape the King of Horrorcore on his Birthday” was a wicked industrial hip hop hybrid suggesting you keep acting like he won’t stick a fork in your face whereas “Trouble in the Library of Corpses” after the “Gimme a Fuckin’ Break” skit industrially talks about death being what you feel. “Suck a Gun” promised he’ll be there anytime you need the reaper while “Baby in the Microwave” by Bodies Below Sea Level blends boom bap production with horror-themed storytelling. Finally after the “Do Your Fuckin Job or You’re Fired” skit, “PU55YB34TER” closes the EP by getting sexual over an industrial beat.

It’s already been made pretty clear that ANTI will be heavily influenced by the synthpop style Depeche Mode became known for earlier on in their careers, so Gōst is more than enough to satisfy anyone who’s been down with him since he put out Phoenix nearly 2 decades ago coming off the most aggressive full-length of his whole entire career during the COVID-19 pandemic. His production goes back & forth between boom bap & industrial hip hop with the Dirtcore founder unapologetically tackling themes of horror in such an irreverent manner.

Score: 4/5

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