A pretty consistent listen from front to back. On the instrumental end, this is the most varied sonic work that the Tzar Keys have ever put forth, ranging from slow and atmospheric crawls to high energy, cartoon-ish romps. On the verbal portion, CZARFACE members Esoteric and Inspectah Deck sound more comfortable and fluid than ever, and, maybe because of this, DOOM manages to come out with more imaginative material than I've seen from him in quite some time. The only real negative to his performance is the amateurish production surrounding him; he's low, fuzzy and unintelligible at certain points on this album, and that's frustrating given that his style is 90% quotables. Still though, the energy is so tangible between the three members that it even rubs off on the guests: Open Mike Eagle gives one of the best verses of his career and Vinnie Paz manages to sound more cognizant than he has since 'Servants In Heaven...' era JMT. My only real complaint is that the album starts and ends rather disappointingly; The first real track, 'Meddle With Metal' plods more than it marches with it's odd Wu Tang melody, and 'Sleeping Dogs', the closer, doesn't even feel thematically connected. For an album loosely based on comic book creations, interspersed with various sketches relating these characters, there is a very disappointing lack of follow-through. That said, this is still one of the most unabashedly old-school and 'fun' hip-hop albums to drop in 2018, and it definitely deserves a listen.
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