The one part about living in Australia is that I get albums close to a day earlier than everyone else! So as the clock struck midnight, I’m here to cover the latest anticipated album by New Villain X Circa 97, so let’s go!
This latest project is 10 tracks and 29 minutes in length, with features including
-ILLAH
-Sphere47
-$AMO HEUNG
And across this project, we get a very different sound from Circa 97, a man who, if you’re familiar with the underground scene, needs no introduction, but for those who aren’t, he’s one of the best producers grinding the last few years to be one of the hottest and most sought after in the game.
In this one, he’s bringing a more somber and earnest soundscape. On its surface, it sounds as if the 60’s has been revived, distorted, and in parts, the use of reverb to create a whole new sub-genre of beats that sound equally raw and grim. Such as tracks like ‘Spidey Senses’ that have that old-school voice sample slowed down and pitched to sound as eerie as possible over a skeletal and stripped-down underground beat.
Or the track ‘Infinite Horizons’ with those piano keys that sound like they are being played by the very soul of ‘melancholy’; it sounds like dread personified. Slow, shadowy, and heavy keys that really give the listener a creepy vibe.
I’ve heard Circa on dark beats before, but this project takes his previous work and injects a whole new level to what we’ve known so far; this is a side of him that, although fascinating, is also very serious and solemn; it’s just honestly hard to absorb all at once.
Now, onto New Villain. A man who is new to me before this project, so I didn’t have any previous expectations for what I should expect, but across these doomsday beats, he does very well, utilising his no-nonsense lyrical style with the occasional pop culture puns such as ‘Shawn Michaels Smile’ or ‘Spidey Senses’, which does break the seriousness for a small while, but overall, I find his flow, penmanship, and bars in your face and savage at heart, which is fitting considering the production he’s working with.
The features do a fantastic job also at matching the sinister energy across this project with this apocalyptic atmosphere maintained from start to finish.
I’ll be honest, I was not expecting that. Is it a good album? Yes, it’s great! No surprise with Circa on the production, but it’s just 10x more sinister than I was experiencing, and that has surprised me so much that I think I might need a few days to process all I’ve heard! Either way, definitely not one to miss! Great collaboration between the two!
https://open.spotify.com/album/1TPhYgcpFiSjn8IowAnYrv?si=80PYFtveRIibBhVCfcl9sg
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