Not even a full 24 hours since listening to the first one, and I was sitting in my room, in tears listening to track 11 and thinking to myself, ‘how could a project hit even harder than the first part?’ I honestly didn’t think it would be possible, but I can confirm not only does this sequel pick up right where the other one left off but adds intensity levels that will make any man or woman feel things they haven’t in years, facts.
So, this continuation from the first is 13 tracks and featuring the likes of
-Joey Hustle
-Tha God Fahim
-Dot.com Intelligence
-Kincee
-TaeeFye
WithAugust Fanon back on the production. Firstly, I want to point out that although the production is of course dark and gritty as the first to match the incredibly gut-wrenching lyrics and themes painting on this record, there’s also a lot of beautifully crafted jazz songs that just blew me away, especially towards the later half of the album.
August once again paints the perfect sonic picture with the pinpoint aesthetics and ambiance to depict the tragic events of Kendall’s life post-accident. It couldn’t have been easy to find someone that could pull that off as masterfully and effectively as he did, but as he was smart to include him on the first album, he was even smarter to keep him on for the second because his work (not just on this) but on everything he touches is beyond compare.
Kendall, man. The way he tells his story is somehow even harder to hear than before. When you listen to him describe losing the arm or learning to live again or battling his emotions and mental health,
When he had his kids on the record or specifically track 11 when he had his wife relive that moment was just unsettling to say the least. For me, when I listen to albums for review’s sake, I tend to put on quality headphones and play some mindless muted PS5 to occupy myself whilst listening, but when that track came on, I was forced to pause and just sit there crying, feeling for her and the family.
As I said on P1. I’m a man who can listen to and in most cases goes out of my way to find the most extreme forms of expression in music whether that be the saddest, the happiest, the weirdest, the angriest, the creepiest I thrive in discovering the depths of peoples minds and abilities.
But when you have a real life trauma and tragedy told by the man himself in such pain stacking detail you can’t help but differentiate between the art and the reality of the situation and I refuse to believe any man or woman can listen to this album and not feel or react.
The features as listed above do a great job again adding to the album in their own ways, helping as much as possible to make this more of a ‘album experience’ compared to just a overdose of sadness and shock. So there are a few tracks on here that feel more like ‘songs’ with those names included.
The Verdict? as it goes an even tougher listen then the first somehow. It’s a series that will leave you feeling second hand pain and suffering on behalf of Kendall and to some it might be refreshing to feel such extreme emotions to others it might be too much to handle either way this will be a project that just like the first won’t be forgotten anytime soon if at all in a lifetime.
https://strongarmkendall.bandcamp.com/album/the-trauma-center-p2-2
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 