Review Summary: Consistent, fierce and mature album, but overdoing the effects.
Hollywood Undead is a band that since its formation has been followed by controversies, such as the ex-vocalist Deuce, the heterogeneity of the albums that ended up making them unpredictable, creating excellent songs (Usual Suspects, Bullet, Tendencies and War Child ) or medium songs (Comin 'in hot, From The Ground, Riot) and somewhat disconcerting lyrics (“our victms, forced into a sixm, nobody will leave until all of our dicks cum”). Even so, the band has gathered a crowd of followers and is reaching its sixth album.
With a different footprint than the previous ones, this album has a more homogeneous sound and cuts a bit of the party / cocks / bitches atmosphere of its essence and brings a heavier riff with trap elements in some songs. All of this was built on the story of maturity and creation of its own identity over the artists (not over the masks), but it is not the first band that embraces this narrative and neither will it be the last. Some bands manage to create good works (A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park), others abandon their identity and this ends up being something that varies from fan to fan (Asking Alexandria Self-Titled) and others fail in that (Gravity - BFMV), now we will see how HU fared in this narrative.
Track analysis
Time Bomb: One of HU's traditions is that, whether the album is good or bad, the first song is excellent (Been to Hell, Dead Bite, Usual Suspects and California Dreaming). Adopting the classic line-up of part 1 - chorus - part 2 - chorus - breakdown - chorus, Time Bomb is a song that doesn't decay at any time and contains a great instrumental arrangement, with emphasis on Danny's vocal that is so clean that it seems to float. The music is contagious and has a powerful chorus. It can be considered one of the best songs of the band.
Heart of a Champion: J3T puts the best of your rap in the verses along with a well-executed instrumental, highlighting the keyboard. The chorus was pretty average and J-Dog's break was a little weak, but he still manages to save the rapper duo J3T and Charlie Scene.
Already Dead: It's a song that tries to be heavier than it is. The sound is saturated and the vocals loaded with synthetic effects. Even though it is much closer to Rock than Rap, thanks to the aggressive vocals of J-Dog (which are between the “cool” and the “cringe”), it is a song so synthetic and full of effects that it gets to bother you in some parts. It looks like they arrived at the studio and it went something like this:
- Director: So, how many effects will you want in music?
- HU: How many can be placed? I want twice as much.
Empire: Following the same line as the previous one, but with a lesser presence of effects, the sound seems a little more organic and J-Dog makes good rap lines together with J3T (this man almost never fails in the studio), but the biggest problem is the excess of autotune in Danny's vocal, making it almost similar to the feeling of hearing a picture being scratched. However, Charlie's autotune worked much better, precisely because it didn't show up much.
Killin 'it: One thing is for sure: if it's Funny man music, they will never be 0-100, but 0-50. They are either bad (Delish and Another Level) or acceptable (Cashed Out and Guzzle, Guzzle). Killin ’it is almost a Cashed Out with different lyrics and with J3T participating, that doesn’t mean it’s good. It is on the fine line between the cringe and the "hands down". It has a very weak synchrony, as if they had done their part of the music each in their home and then put everything together to see what happens. It is a low point of the album.
Enemy: Have you noticed how much I hate autotune? This song has instrumental bases well connected to Hard Rock and has some elements of California Dreaming, but so much that it seems like a recycling in some points. Highlight for the violent vocals of Charlie Scene and the simple and floating chorus of Danny, which makes him one of the best choruses of the album.
Upside Down: It would be a beautiful Pop song if it had other instrumental arrangements. It's not a very good song, especially Danny's almost childlike vocals (?) At certain times. And another, do you know the same reason they complained about Eminem's softness in songs like River? I make the same complaint about the J3T. Some songs even work, but a singer as aggressive as he with soft vocals is almost a loss of potential.
Second Chances: Charlie or even J-Dog was expected to sing soft parts, but J3T made a good and simple participation during the song, but the highlight was the parts of Benji Madden (Good Charlotte), which brought a tone different for music. Still, it's not a strong song on the album, similar to Coming Back Down, Pigskin and Bang Bang. They are not bad songs, but not very memorable.
Nightmare: With very striking trap elements, the song manages to be one of the highlights of the album. A dark song with a good piano accompaniment, calm and organic vocals from Danny, J3T and J-Dog perfectly accompanying the rhythm of the song and Charlie incorporating Eminem in some moments, in addition to an ending that was left open for Volume 2 from New Empire, Nightmare manages to close the album well and bringing out the best in each member.
Conclusion: With a solid album, Hollywood Undead offers few loopholes for failures, but it also shortens the possibility of great memorable hits like Undead, War Child and We Are, because they follow the “dark album” booklet without much risk. Still, he manages to develop good music and show that what lies behind the masks can be really impressive.
