Tag: Neon Sermon

Lo Key – “Portraits of Horror” review

Philadelphia horrorcore emcee Lo Key unleashing his 15th EP. You may know him for his involvement in a handful of groups within the underground like Mission: Infect or more recently Cabal & Neon Sermon or even his own solo discography of LPs that he calls the 12 Oracles. So far the only 4 we’ve gotten from him are Shadowland, The Book of Time, The Blood of Izu, The Eyes of Parasuva. But to help him paint Portraits of Horror, we have Lo Key enlisting former Strange Music in-house producer MIKE SUMMERS a.k.a. 7 to produce the whole thing.

After the intro, the first song “The Box” opens the EP with some pianos & hi-hats with heavy guitars during the hook proclaiming that you could never kill him whereas “Burn the Witch” takes the eerie trap route looking to do exactly that as it is a necessity for him. “You’re My Everything” morbidly answers if he’s ever had to deal with stalkers just before “Parasitic” frighteningly admits he gave it his best & it wasn’t enough. “Remote Control” wraps everything up with a ghoulish trap beat looking to lead everyone to Shadowland.

25 years in the game & here we have Lo Key returning to form by taking it back to his horrorcore roots in comparison to his last few solo efforts going for different sounds. 7’s production is incredibly consistent & not only can the Mission: Infect leader still spit the wicked shit raw all these years later, but he shows his versatility as a vocal performer along the way too. Most notably during the hooks.

Score: 4.5/5

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Neon Sermon – “001” review

Neon Sermon are a horrorcore trio consisting of BatiBatt, Krux 1 & Lo Key. The latter of whom is most notable for being the leader of the Mission: Infect collective with Bati being his wife & Krux as his latest protege, joining the crew last year. They only have a couple songs under their belt together prior to bringing Bati into the picture couple months back for the lead single coinciding with the news of the trio’s formation & are following it up by dropping their debut EP enlisting former Strange Music in-house producer MIKE SUMMERS a.k.a. 7 behind the boards for the entire thing.

After the “Signal Received” intro, the first song “Doomsday Device” is a boom bap/EDM fusion to start off the EP talking about a weapon of mass destruction that has malfunctioned whereas “Beamed Up” dives deeper into electronic territory looking for smoke. “GODZILLA” works in a trap beat to admit they they feel like the King of the Monsters with some speedy flows as well as a freshly chopped & screwed Eminem sample for the hook, but then “Level Up” takes a more abrasive route to declare sermon now being in session.

The song “B.I.A.T.D.A.T.L.M.O.M.F.K. (Bitch I Am The Devil And They Let Me Out My Fuckin’ Kettle)” returns to an EDM-influenced sound comparing themselves to Satan & that they’ve been let loose while the penultimate track “The Sickness” detours into boom bap territory talking about how no one’s ready for this. “You Now Belong to Us” on the other hand sends 001 off with an electronic/trap hybrid asking to step into their spaceship with a melodic hook that I consider to be the best throughout the whole thing.

Lo Key has been known for dabbling with completely different sounds with the most recent example being his nu metal-influenced 13th EP Metanoia last spring or even the last solo album The Eyes of Parasuva taking on a more alt-rock vibe & that’s exactly what he did here with his fellow Neon Sermon brethren. 7 embraces a heavy EDM influence over the course of a good bulk of his instrumentals with KruX turning the chemistry between him & his mentor up to 11.

Score: 4/5