Review Summary: A solid release, especially for his old material. 'Revelation' is absolutely a release I'd recommend to anyone who would want to listen to Xen's old material.
I'm honestly surprised I'm the first one to rate this mixtape. I guess I sort of understand because it's definitely not that popular, which is a shame too, since this is actually not a bad release. Craig seems to have at least a semi-consistent discography, with similar numbers for all of his releases. Well, since the EP itself is only about 5 tracks long, I might as well review them semi-individually. Here goes:
1. PROLOGUE (3/5)
It's a decent way to start off the mixtape. It's rather slow even for Craig Xen standards, which doesn't mesh the best with his yelling and "hype-screams" as I'd like to call them. Other than that, it's a fine way to start off the release, since it actually sounds like what you're getting.
2. MAVERICK (4/5)
MAVERICK starts off with a orchestral-type beat, which really threw me off if I'm honest. Eventually the track starts after that with a beat that actually goes pretty hard. His vocals are classic and recognizable, and it meshes alright with the mixing. PROLOGUE does a good job hyping this song up, and I think this song is a definite banger, even if it ends abruptly.
3. DEVIANT (3.5/5)
DEVIANT starts off after Craig does his classic hype-yelling in the background, and we're met with a beat that goes hard, however, Craig's vocals don't seem normal. They seem just a tad off, and it throws me off, same with the ending, where it suddenly slows down with no warning. Good track, though.
4. REVELATION (4/5)
After some of Craig talking about the metronome, (what?) we get a very fun track with a nice bass-y beat with Craig's vocal work at it's absolute peak on the album. I'd definitely suggest this song, even if it's rather short. Which brings us to:
5. ENDURE (2/5)
The weakest track on the album for me. I personally have a little grudge with this song, because Craig doesn't sound the best talking about past struggles to me. Don't get me started on the featuring artist too, Celes Karter. His below-average flow personally ruins the song. A disappointing end to a promising mixtape, but oh well.
OVERALL: (3.5/5) This album bops in some songs, and in others, it doesn't. However, the good definitely outweighs the bad, and I'd recommend this EP to anyone who likes some of Craig Xen's old material.
STANDALONE TRACKS: 3. DEFIANT 4. REVELATION
