 | Tracklist:
1. Blessed Are They Who Bash Your Children's Heads Against a Rock
2. No Question
3. Armed With Krylon
4. Who Medgar Evers Was...
5. Street Diction
6. A Collection of Miserable Thoughts Laced With Wit
7. Los Macheteros / Spear a Nation
8. We Lost Sight
9. Gutter Tactics
10. 2012 (The Pillage)
11. Atypical Stereotype
| Ranking: #45 for 2009 | |
|
On 3 Lists
|
| Summary: Gutter Tactics thick, doom sound that defined Dälek's approach has now turned back and smothered any attempt at a unique change. |
It has been two years since Abandoned Language, the last release by Dälek, and not much has changed. With Abandoned Language there contained a certain aura that made the drone hip-hop/experimental sound of Dälek so appealing. The album was cohesive, rhymes often bouncing off every eloquently spoken word, but with Gutter Tactics it has become rather redundant.
Pastor Jeremiah Wright profoundly begins Gutter Tactics with his segment about the hypocritical state of the United States used as a sample. In fact, “Blessed Are They Who Bash Your Children's Heads Against A Rock” may be the best track on the album, but from there not much occurs. The industrial/doom sounds created by producer The Oktopus are overdone and rarely indicate any sort of climax in the tracks. Instead, songs tend to wander and often fail to become anything stimulating. However, there are exceptions, “We Lost Sight” twiddles with guitar riffs in a more ‘upbeat’ spirit, encapsulated under massive, stirring tones. Another track removed of headache inducing drone is “A Collection Of Miserable Thoughts Laced With With,” which lightly hops and alleviates the pressure endured from the rest of the Gutter Tactics. Make no mistake about it, The Oktopus has made compelling tracks before, but this time, they are not as obvious.
More importantly than the bogged down sounds from Gutter Tactics are Dälek’s lyrics. Dälek is known to rap in such a manner that nearly every word or line rhymes within a verse. Take “Gutter Tactics,” which personifies his technique, ‘Gutter tactics backed with mathematics/ acts to cause havoc/ words weave with static/ streets tattered/ preachers turned addicts/ knowledge subtracted/ equation is tragic.’ While the style is fresh, over the course of an entire album it becomes forced and utterly unnatural, even if an individual song is brilliantly written. Reading Dälek’s lyrics, it is clear he is an intellectual individual who has a strong political standpoint. Such is the case with “Los Macheteros / Spear Of A Nation,” a track that spits names, dates, and addresses in one of the more perplexing songs. Granted Dälek meant to send a message, but the impact is hardly felt and it can be said for Gutter Tactics as a whole.
Unfortunately, the combination of Dälek and The Oktopus did not work as well on Gutter Tactics. If there were a finger to be pointed, The Oktopus would bear the blame for creating a sound too overpoweringly dense to see the messages clearly. More than that, Gutter Tactics flow and overall rhymes pale in comparison to those found in Abandoned Language. It is as if Gutter Tactics thick, doom sound that defined Dälek’s approach has now turned back and smothered any attempt at a unique change.
|
| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
nice, i 100% agree.
also, you might want to fix this in the 2nd para: Dälek is know to rap in.
good job; it's seriously disappointing dynamic suckage.
Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
| | |
Nice job ryan
I am going to listen to this though.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
good looks kingsoby
| | |
I'll probably check this out anyway but this is sad to hear. I was looking forward to this.
| | |
review is spot on, not sure if this is even worth the 3 i have given it tbh
| | | Album Rating: 4
good review, but i totally disagree. while it's easily the worst Dalek album yet, it's still great.
| | |
The album was cohesive, rhymes often bouncing off every eloquently word spoken, but with Gutter Tactic it has become rather redundant.
switch spoken and word and add an s to Gutter Tactic
and I haven't heard this yet, but i liked Abandoned Language quite a lot
| | | Album Rating: 2
what a disappointment. it's tough for me to sit through five tracks let alone the whole album.
| | | Album Rating: 4
really? what don't you like about it?
idk maybe cause i listen to a lot of noise stuff but i think it sounds awesome.
| | |
album art reminds me of misery signals
| | |
superae, just as mr. flatley states above... yes, it is noisy, and a lot of people expect that. but the noise doesn't do anything/ doesn't go anywhere.
| | | Album Rating: 4
who says it has to go anywhere? it just is what it is, noise. don't see how it's any different than their other releases.
| | |
it's slightly worse than abandoned language, which is slightly worse than absence. they all get progressively less dynamic. i dont know how else to say it.
| | |
Doctor Who. :D
Also, Daleks are amazing. And I need to check this out solely based on the fact that Dalek is the name of the band.This Message Edited On 01.27.09
| | |
You are an enemy of the daleks!
YOU MUST BE EXTERMINATED!
| | |
EXTREEEEMEENATE!!
Yeah, I said it.
| | |
not as good as Absence, but it's still above avarage.
but the noise doesn't do anything/ doesn't go anywhere.
why do people always think music has to "go anywhere"? how do you define that, I mean, what kind of music "goes somewhere" and what doesn't?
Digging: The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation - Egor
| | |
i think it he like..it didnt climax or sumthin like that, or it doesnt do anything to make the song better or worse, it was just..."there"
| | |
you guys are so unique in your not liking dynamics.
| | | Album Rating: 4
dynamics schmynamics.
| | | |
|
|
Stumble
Digg
Twitter
Del.icio.us
