Review Summary: An entertaining album with brilliant lyrics
Deca leads us through what is described by cliché as a 'musical journey'; we are taken through a surreal dream world of Dragons, Angels, intergalactic castaways and God, mixed together with the gritty nature of hip-hop reality: guns drugs and human suffering. Struggle and suffering are the fundamental questions, so to speak, of the record, and the protagonist explores his own suffering, and mankind's struggle through life, drawing upon biblical parallels. I easily 'connected' with Deca's message (or at least my interpretation); if I had reviewed based purely on thought provocation, this record would be a hitting a strong 5.
Deca's easy going flow is complemented by the tracks' ceaseless beats and melodies which are often repetitive in nature, for instance, in the track 'Salome' a simple motif repeating three piano chimes progresses throughout the track, beginning to end. These musical techniques create an almost tranquillising atmosphere at times which fits perfectly for the surreal 'dream-esque' nature of the album. I particularly enjoyed the original uses of samples, and theatrical voices given to different characters, for instance Eve, whose voice is a high pitched and child-like.
Lyrically Deca sticks consistently to a flow which is clearly heavily influenced from MF DOOM. He drifts between vivid scenes and metaphors, rarely sticking to a concept for more than a line, and it is this sporadic 'jumping' that makes the music so engaging. Deca's ability to conjure intricate and beautiful characters, stories and dreams makes this album stand out against the thousands of other decent hip-hop albums, which may also have pleasant instrumentals, but nothing else. From a musical stand point the album sounds 'nice'. Its hardly breaking sonic barriers but nonetheless is lovely canvas that Deca uses to deliver his awe-inspiring lyrics.
My favourite tracks include: Breadcrumbs, Salome and Edenville, although every track in the album is worth listening to, especially considering that the run time is a mere 30 minutes, not a big investment at all, considering how much entertainment it has provided for me.
