by Kez » Aug 6th, '13, 18:38
Okay, here we go, two months or so late but whatever, I been busy these days unfortunately. I'm not going to compliment your lyrics on each individual song, it will be pointless. You know how to write lyrics, you don't need to be told that.
The Last King:
This is just atmospheric as fuck. Perfect opening song. The flow is so smooth, it works fantastic on this song as an opening statement. Nothing gets ego across better than just sliding along beats you created yourself. And I love the little touches you stuck in the background, like the pitch shift on the "I" and the little choir thing in the background and the "h-h-h-hold up." The production is brilliant, really. You have come so far. Stuff like that is just so hard to make happen and some people might not realise how hard it is to actually pull up and how much it adds.
Let it Burn:
I expected something else from the title, so I was pleasantly surprised. This is great. My favourite way to do these kind of songs. Absolutely fantastic. I just don't have anything bad to say, quite honestly. My favourite bit of the song is the bit after the second chorus with your little bridge thing. Fantastic. And the song opens perfectly as well with the narrative. And I envy the way you can just make your music a bit more catchy, little touches like the "uh huh uh huh uh huh" add a surprising amount.
Get Away:
This is the only verse I gave you on this album that i'm still truly proud of. This is a great song. I still know my verse could be a hell of a lot better in many ways, but considering the tight timeframe I was under i'm still satisfied with it. It's testament to the quality of your verses that it inspired that out of me during a pretty dry period.
Looking Right:
Love the singing on the chorus, that's great. My favourite part of this song. This is one of the songs I just thought was "good", but didn't really get into it that much because of the subject.
Something Crazy:
The beat is great for the track idea, but I think the title is kinda uninventive because it seems a bit obvious. And unfortunately the song basically lives up to that by just being "crazy shit." The background production on the chorus is fantastic though. Unfortunately I couldn't really get massively into this song either because it just seems like the "token crazy track", I mean you make every song interesting to listen to with the way you describe stuff and your voice and flow is entertaining to listen to, but being a pedantic cunt, I have to give this kind of feed or this would just be 18 sentences of "good shit man." The production at the end after the last chorus again I loved. Your production is just fantastic really.
OK (feat. Hybrid Purity):
Oh well. I like the low tones on the beat, though at the very beginning it sounds very odd, but you built around it and made it so that it didn't end up being irritating to me like I thought it would be. Hook gets a thumbs up as well. Most of the content of this song is just kinda egotism again, which is good, I just don't have much to comment on with it. Hybrid's voice sounds very clear, though could sound a bit more energetic in comparison to you. He still sounds pretty much exactly the same as the last thing I remember hearing from him. Love when the beat breaks down after the second hook, little shit like that is what saves these songs being boring to me honestly at times. Plus it emphasises that this is your album and you are the main focus. Should probably have got him to say some stuff for the end too so it sounds like he's more involved though.
Relax:
Already commented on this I believe in your thread, but I may not have and i could be remembering that wrong, so: it's okay. Not really a huge fan of this one. Just not my thing.
Symphony in A Minor:
These are my favourite tracks by you. Piano, deep, storytelling. You do it so well and I always vibe to it without even thinking about it. I got nothing bad to say about this.
The Circus (feat. Tom Chambers):
I like that you didn't go all cliche and open this with straight-up obvious circus music. You ride this beat awesomely in terms of flow. The reason why machines turn human, aah, stuff like that is what I love about your albums ever since you picked this theme up. But at the same time, i'm glad this is your last album on this theme because it will eventually get old to some if you carry on. Hook is a nice change from the singing that you do on almost every song, I mean I personally think you sing fantastic hooks but it's good to have a bit of variation. Chambers has a great verse here, fantastic storytelling, and the laidback tone of voice that makes it all sound like a joke fits well. Admittedly it is pretty personal of a verse compared to Ax's verse, but it does fit the "life is a circus" thing, so I can't complain about that. His flow matches yours well as well, which is no easy feat. Didn't slip at all. The gap you left in the hook though maybe he should have added something in reply to beef it out, like "yeah, this is crazy man"; I don't wanna assume things but I get the feeling that maybe this was your idea but you couldn't get it recorded in time. I could be wrong though. A great song, perfect for the middle placement.
The Royal Treatment:
That kinda doesn't sound like you at first in the very beginning. The middle of the second verse is my favourite part of this song. But.. ehh. Couldn't seem to much get into this one as much as some of the others.
Psychopath Desire:
I fear from the title that this is another "crazy killer" song just put here for variation, I hope I will be proven wrong. Flow starts off awesome, great to listen to. Punishment for my psychiatrist, ahh that's a good line. Hook is beefy as fuck, real fucking nice. Probably my favourite sung hook I heard so far. Love the reference to "Relax," not enough people do that kind of thing. I love how you make your voice go up and down like on around 2:05, that's really not easy to do naturally and it adds a lot. In general just love how you play with your voice in this second verse, it's entertaining as fuck. And on the third verse when the beat goes quieter, contributes a lot to it as well. Shit. I enjoyed this track more than I thought I would actually, fair admittance.
Drive Slow:
Just wasn't that into this unfortunately. Dunno what it is.
My Sinful Nature:
The hook fits well. "This isn't me anymore, but I kinda like it." This is a fantastic song to just sit and smoke to to be honest, if I still smoked weed. But I can't say I got really excited with it. But it's great to just chill to for some reason, probably the beat.
Get You:
Commented on this song already too I believe. The thing i'm still really into with this song that stayed in my head is, of course, the hook.
Whispering (feat. Kez & Redzek):
Honestly I don't really think my verse on this song is up to standard really. Pretty meh. Redzek can't lie, honestly it's still a bit hard to understand you at times and your voice sounded like it was trying too hard on this beat. Meh. I'm not hyped over this song, probably hard for me to get into it since i'm dissapointed in my verse so I tend not to listen to it.
Time Flies:
Love the hard pounding on this production. Honestly when I saw Interlude I thought it was gonna be a Skit, then I saw "5 minutes" and was surprised. I dunno if this really needed to be called an "Interlude." Though I guess I take that back a little when you changed it halfway through. I like these songs from you but I just never know how to feed them. Because there's not much I can say past "I enjoy them" when everything is this constructed and experienced.
MWAII:
Again, same as Whispering, my hook on this is pretty awful. Your verses are great but I already told you all that when you sent it to me to record it, so we know that already. I feel I could have done a lot lot better than this, but meh. The talking at the ending served it's purpose well though.
Chivalry:
I was excited to hear this song from the title and remembering the past closing songs you've done. They are always a treat. And this song didn't disappoint. "A man of God won't press rewind" is my favourite line. This second verse is probably my favourite of the album. I do think it's surprisingly sombre considering the last few closers you've done, because honestly I love when you go all out with a bang, but this worked well in either case. I do kind of feel like it ended a bit too quickly though, but i'm probably just biased because I like your "anthem" kind of songs. And really, considering there's like 5 minute songs on here I would have expected the last one to at least hit about that mark.
I'm sorry my feed is so late. I dunno much to comment on more than what I just said up there; your lyrics and storytelling are always perfectly competent and can carry your songs even if you're talking about stuff that doesn't interest me so much. Your production is beyond probably anyone on this site if you ask me, nobody can make the sounds that you can. I think you pretty much outshone all your guests as well, me included. I do have to say that I think Afterlife still remains my favourite album by you though, but my favourites from this album would be Chivalry, Let It Burn, Psychopath Desire and The Last King.
My only criticism, if you can call it that, is maybe going all-out for an entire album without feeling like you have to add a couple of songs about chicks or a couple songs about you being crazy on there to break it up. Maybe that's just me though, I do that and it has a risk of making it repetitive. So maybe that's just my personal bias. I don't have anything bad to say about this, which makes it seem kinda redundant, but whatever. I'm very interested to see where you go next with your albums now that you retired this theme. Amazing work as always man.
I guess...
