Cannibal Ox
Blade of the Ronin


4.5
superb

Review

by YetAnotherBrick USER (38 Reviews)
December 9th, 2015 | 99 replies


Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Strange, cynical, celebratory.

Blade of the Ronin is a sumptuous, engrossing hip-hop feast, and as an album whose predecessor is more than a decade old, it refuses to cut any corners in achieving this. The first striking thing about the album is how marvelously realized its new setting is. With Bill Cosmiq producing this time around, and a few trends in hip-hop later, Blade of the Ronin takes itself to the same uncharted expanse as The Cold Vein; just on a different hemisphere.

Honestly, I wanted that to be the last thing I say about The Cold Vein. The expansion of personality this album gives Cannibal Ox is daring and memorable enough to stand on its own. The atmosphere has been widened to make room for layers of spacey synth, with sounds constantly shifting and constantly resurfacing, so really, no two parts of a song sound completely the same. The beats are a little more on-kilter than El-P's, but they're always a solid backbone and provide a perfect arena for the emcees.

Which, to say one more thing about The Cold Vein forrealthistime, there's more of here. I don't want to spoil anything, but... MF DOOM, Artifacts, and U-God, among others. And they all kill it. The album kind of feels like this massive room that any emcee, who passes the talent test at the front door, can just walk inside and contribute some good shit to. Though this is probably also because you can't predict when the Can-Ox members will show up in songs with multiple guests. And it all helps make the album the wild ride that it was always going to be.

The distinct personalities that shine through the album's thick walls of spacey vibration are always providing a great complement to the song's other sounds, and they're always entertaining, even if only for their detail. Sure, sometimes Vast Aire can be a little cheesy and droll, and some might not be into Vordul Mega's exaggeration of his whole slurred-stream-of-consciousness bit. But in the right light, which you should be able to find somewhere in the background, he appears like some kind of stoned prophet. In the first half of the album, his appearances are actually somewhat limited, charging up the anticipation. And like I said before, all the guests totally kill it. I mean, look at this bit from "Iron Rose." Is this DOOM or is this DOOM:

Iron clad and rhymin,'
At the droppin' of a diamond
Filthy metal fingers get it poppin' like a hymen
At first she said no, her iron was low
He had to go, get back to mining iron for dough
Flow with an iron tongue
Spit words from an iron lung, where flung
Who gives a flying turd or iron dung


It's crazy the way this album just appeared and offers such an immense selection of unique musical worlds. To some it may appear indulgent or needlessly unorthodox, but incidentally, I think a lot of the album's power comes from that its contemporary trippiness is offset by a huge chunk of hip-hop tradition. Its roots aren't as exposed as To Pimp A Butterfly's, but that's because this album takes in all of its surroundings - all the death and all the technology. It takes it all in, however strange or cynical. And however dense or pretentious its flurries of words may seem, what they're saying is always a grab at some kind of truth. In result, Blade of the Ronin cuts deep.



Recent reviews by this author
Midnight Mines If You Can't Find A Partner Use A Wooden ChairHorse Lords Interventions
Mr Amish The AbsurdistThao And The Get Down Stay Down A Man Alive
Suuns Hold/StillPinkshinyultrablast Grandfeathered
user ratings (153)
3.3
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
YetAnotherBrick
December 9th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

how did this not have a review

YetAnotherBrick
December 9th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

i was srsly like o.O

YetAnotherBrick
December 9th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Ahhhh, ghost-neggers... This takes me back

Lord(e)Po)))ts
December 9th 2015


70256 Comments


Wow only took nearly 10 months for this to get a review

YetAnotherBrick
December 10th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Thanks man.



And yeah, kind of absurd. You know what else is absurd? That average.

Avagantamos
December 10th 2015


9040 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

my favorite guest is kenyattah black. is anything else with him good?

InFiction
December 10th 2015


3995 Comments


Amazing album. Iron Rose is one of my favourites.

YetAnotherBrick
December 10th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

honestly there's a lot of people on this album i'd never even heard of, kenyattah black being one of them

CaliggyJack
December 10th 2015


10185 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I had no idea who Cannibal ox was until I read this review. THANK YOU OP I absolutely love these guys.

YetAnotherBrick
December 10th 2015


6693 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

that's great to hear, man. they've truly got a thing of their own

rufinthefury
December 11th 2015


4091 Comments


it's a good album but compared to The Cold Vein this is so disappointing.

deathschool
December 11th 2015


28936 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Still need to check this

Lord(e)Po)))ts
December 11th 2015


70256 Comments


"it's a good album but compared to The Cold Vein this is so disappointing."

youre mistake was comparing it to The Cold Vein at all. that album is quintessential, expecting it to satisfy the same niche that album did is unreasonable. this is cannibal ox, still in everything that made them great, for the modern day.

rufinthefury
December 11th 2015


4091 Comments


you say that and yet it's not produced by El-P.

Tyler.
December 11th 2015


19033 Comments


who needs him

Lord(e)Po)))ts
December 11th 2015


70256 Comments


you say that and yet el-p's reputation had nothing to do with the success of Cold Vein. he was largely underground still at that point. using that as a gauge is extremely short-sighted, its just an easy way for el-p fanboys to gloss over the fact that el-p's modern production wouldn't even suit Cannibal Ox. He was perfect for Cold Vein at the time but el-p has developed and changed as an artist and his recent production is so far off base for what Cannibal Ox do that it would be ultimately counter-intuitive to even suggest the record would be better off with him. CanOx found new producers to emulate the spaceship-boombox foil of their debut in a way that el-p wouldn't even have the interest of attempting these days. thats not what he does anymore.

Lord(e)Po)))ts
December 11th 2015


70256 Comments


his production was great for that album, would not be good for this album, and saying this one suffers just because he's not here is just a shallow excuse to value reputation over actual artistic credibility

deathschool
December 11th 2015


28936 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Oh damn, Black Milk was one of the producers on here. That's awesome.



(Ah, apparently only for one song, but that's still cool.)

Lord(e)Po)))ts
December 11th 2015


70256 Comments


only for one track. the rest is Bill Cosmiq whom i look forward to hearing more from.

deathschool
December 11th 2015


28936 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Yeah, I just noticed that. I think I'm about to listen to this now.



You have to be logged in to post a comment. Login | Create a Profile





STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS // CONTACT US

Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Site Copyright 2005-2023 Sputnikmusic.com
All Album Reviews Displayed With Permission of Authors | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy