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| tracklisting |
| 1. The Entity |
| 2. Nightmares |
| 3. The Pain |
| 4. Fight |
| 5. Situations feat. Obie Trice |
| 6. When Darkness Falls |
| 7. Playground (Skit) |
| 8. Time To Die feat. Bizarre |
| 9. Fat-Tastic feat. Fat Killahz |
| 10. Pass Me A Lighter |
| 11. No Lights |
| 12. We Violent |
| 13. The Mask |
| 14. Hello Gordy... (Skit) |
| 15. Stress |
| 16. Nobody Hates Nothin' |
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| Demented. Sick. Weird. Demonic. Strange. Shocking. Deranged. Argh. |
| I can hear them all say it. Those words. And sure, this album is all of that and more. Because Gordy walks in the tradition and shadow of the other horrorcore that's coming out of Detroit. He's taking all of that, exaggerates it, he's meeting his demons, fights them, but also smokes
a thick one with 'em. So his character is haunted. What has him take their side, to later kick their butts too. And throughout the album you get a disturbed impression as well as a 'don't mess with me', said in a rather calm way. What's however so much more effective than all those yelling wannabes. |
| What all says much about what's on this album. Much of it is really good too. Like the hype opener "Nightmares". The Mark and Jeff Bass production most strongly resembles what the Shady would do. And for an unexplained
reason their work is credited as 'for F.B.T. productions, in association with Eminem'. Eminem probably can barley walk anymore with so many people hanging from his coat tail. What however is not valid for this occasion (or just partly), because Jeff and Mark are legitimate partners, and defining Gordy
through Eminem is plain wrong. But to get back to the song: Gordy gets really hard with his regular demonic verses, where he's always struggling in supernatural ways, with nothing as bubble gum as Buffy nearby to help to whup some arse. |
| For good songs, check the collaboration with Obie Trice "Situations", where Obie tells Gordy what to write about. He then attacks the issues with a hunger that's rarely heard nowadays, killing everything in sight that
looks at least partially digestive. This track then paves the way for the most haunting song on here: "When Darkness Falls". Gordy sings, rather than raps, making this a gospel for the dark side. With some opera singing added, a musical
Bass brothers beat, this is especially gripping, resulting in a homage to everything evil. What leads into the unforgiving "Playground (Skit)". And it becomes obvious: Gordy is troubled. As is Bizarre of D-12. So when they meet, you can expect them to say some weird ish on "Time
To Die", also just for the weirdness sake and shock value. |
| But the opening act of "Fat-Tastic 4" adds a interpretation to all the demented material that's on the album. It shows how this record could be taken too: with humor. You don't assign a documentary value to a horror movie, even if some people might just spin the same
thoughts or scenarios. However, there might be a couple of grins in there. Same here really. With the very remote, and very slight humor that's creeping up (what else) allowing you to take everything with the proverbial grain of salt. Also a "We Violent", where Gordy calls you to violent
action. |
| Towards the second half of the album, a depression settles on the album, like on the explanatory "The Mask", the sulking "Nobody Hates Nothin'", or the deep "No Lights". What all explodes in the desperate, guitar heavy "Stress".
And we haven't enjoyed a song with heavy guitar chords in a long time, until right now. The desperation doesn't end in self pity, but rather in an attempt to shake everything loose with some serious anger release. |
| And that's the album in a nutshell: evil, weird and strongly disturbed rhyming where everything goes, are met with often similar ghostly production, that's to the hard side of things, successfully avoiding the ills of mainstream music. With a good example of that shell being "The
Pain". At the same time, this does not do the flavor of the month, but it can easily be the one to set the flavor of next month. And the quality of everything, how well the songs are done, makes it hard for you to criticize the persona Gordy portrays himself to be, and the music that stems
from that. |
| But why is Gordy who he is? The answer might lie in "No Lights", more than anything else (entertainment value, enjoying it, etc.). The short tale of real life struggle allows an explanation why Gordy would flee into a world where something or someone else is even
worse. When the good is treating you bad, then maybe the bad will treat you good. |
| review: tadah |
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