Review Summary: Solid start and end…
This EP was teased for a release right on the end of 2015, literally on New Years Eve. I was genuinely excited, as I thought the EP might be an outlet for further experimentation, maybe even a release that could be looked back on as a transition record for whatever is to come.
I mean, things definitely start on the right path. BOTTLE-O has a beat that refuses to settle on any idea for more than a minute, and it results in a really interesting track that carries this really odd mantra of a ‘chorus.’ The ever progressing beat sets everything up well, and Lazy8’s on fire from the beginning, and its fair to say he remains on fire for most of the record. But it dips with APOLOGIES.
APOLOGIES is just more typical noisy raps, and it’s also the first time I feel Lazy8 doesn’t quite go hard enough I feel. There’s this false sense of urgency, false in the sense that while Lazy8’s going loud, it just isn’t powerful when Lazy8 is isolated in the mix to deliver the line ‘Welcome to my oddessy!’
Aside from that, APOLOGIES doesn’t really offer anything particular new or interesting that I haven’t heard already from Dead Vandals. The worst offender I think is on the track PHIL’.
The beat just runs like a banger, but it gets real boring real quick! Not to mention when the hook comes in and asks you to ‘Just Jump, Jump, Jump, Jump!’ Even the ping-pong beat change doesn’t really save it.
Going back to the strengths of this EP, it’s the darker cuts that are the most interesting. Along with BOTTLE-O is FLAG RAISER. The beat is just really ominous with its synth chords, and Lazy8 sounds great when he’s delivering lines in a subdued manor, with ‘5 in the morning, I’m alive but I ain’t living.’ And the final cut DTTW ends decently enough with a void of a beat and the ‘Dead to the world’ choppy vocals, but…I don’t know man.
Maybe I expected too much. Maybe I thought there was a little more to these guys, because this EP isn’t entirely solid. I know this EP, which is called MOON UNIT by the way, is a concept record. It’s just that, I don’t find it as interesting and as enthralling as # was. Even listening back, I have to recommend # if you want any idea of who the hell Dead Vandals are and what they’ve got to offer. MOON UNIT just plays to their strengths, but it doesn’t even really end in much of a pay-off. If anything, it feels less original and really comes far to close to feeling like a lesser version of CLIPPING.
MOON UNIT is on band camp if you want a listen, but I have to recommend # if you really want to know what Dead Vandals are capable of when it comes to cohesive releases:
https://deadvandals.bandcamp.com/album/moon-unit
