BACK TO MAIN
By tadah - UrbanSmarts.com
There can be much said about the Swollen Members, but the sentence: 'they are darn good' has to be included in the description. And that's odd enough. It's fair to say that Madchild and Prevail are not the most gifted emcees on this planet, however, they are by far not the worst too. So there needs to be a different explanation why these Canadian fellers have bumrushed themselves in the global hip hop consciousness. Maybe, the explanation can be boiled down to beats. As for some benefiting reason, the Swollen Members accomplish to pick beats that are not necessarily ground breaking, while most of the time straying away from the norm. And they are fuckin' banging. But that would not be enough though, and so we gotta expand our reasoning: Prev' and Mad' also have an incredible chemistry and are able to work the beats, to ride them, to flow over them, with a effortlessness that's only remotely sounding like they are thoroughly uninterested in the whole thing. And as a result, every line they say sounds like a quotable to memorize. Hence it's the sum of these things, that make the Swollen Members as good as they are.
Giving us their second album now, we are quite anxious to get more, as the pre-released 12"es were all promising. Once more those tracks can be found on here again, namely "Dark Riders", "Camouflage" and "Deep End", while others are actually missing, like "Temptation" and "Members Only". That still leaves us with 15 new tracks (plus one intro) that are to be discovered and heard. And once you hear the "Intro", you know that the Swollen Members mean business. As this is some special forces recruitment, that's using the same sounds as the track coming on immediately after, the Nucleus produced "Killing Spree". It is giving us the strict formula, with slicing words, over an equally chopping beat.
The lyrics by Prev' and Mad' are a strange mixture of military commands, insane lunatic's rambling, punchlines, and strangeness in sentences. They also spit their words with a rather talking flow, maybe making the maniac impression even stronger. However, on "Full Contact" the two team up with Evidence (on the beat and mic) and Chili 2na, and this is going for the more battling (and maybe that could be a connecting umbrella the lyrical content could be positioned under), with Madchild saying "your so wack, even your yes man has suggestions". This album is throughout thick with guest appearance, as DJ Revolution is added to "Take It Back". We however are initially attracted to this because Rob The Viking produced the beat, and ever since we saw him being named the producer of "Invigorating" (an LMNO cut), we are checking everything this cat is doing. On this track he is putting together a retro-bouncy beat, that obviously fits the topic, with Mad' mentioning "introducing Madchild, ladies And gentlemen / let's have a round of applause for adrenaline". And things are kept on the bounce tip, as Nucleus is putting some fire under the style and offers "RPM", that is then used by Iriscience (who claims that they are "some of the illest on slipmats") as a guest, with DJ Babu also lending his helping hand's product to the cut.
The title track "Bad Dreams" is then showcasing the depressive persona's of our Members, as we are somewhat discussing the sleeping habits. The track suffers from a rather lengthy chorus, while the piano based Alchemist production, as well as the sound effects are making the topic grippingly visible. What then leads us to "Camouflage", once more with DJ Revolution on the team, and featuring a very untypical Evidence production, what in this case means, that's it's beneficially untypical. We shall continue, as we've heard this before, and we get "Poker Face" featuring Buc Fifty and featuring another Rob beat. The quirky voice emcee is opening the track, but somehow you can feel the other two cats linger in the back in a threatening manner, and you'd never dare to tell 'em not to step to the mic. Prev' then sounds rather anxious, with his flow and voice adapting to Buc's tongue. The incredible previously released "Deep End" comes on next, and the beat is credited to Seanski, and once more it's a name that we will keep in mind.
The somewhat unapt (in these days) titled "Anthrax Island" gives us more Nucleas baps, and gives us very forward pacing emcees, what then does a 180° turn for "Snake Bite", a cut that features very unnecessary crooning, and a rather romantic guitar. Rattlesnake Jones and Chris Guy are called to complete the track, with Rob and Roger Swan sharing the production duties. Now, the crooning is unnecessary as it's softening up the whole Swollen stance, and that just doesn't work too properly. Much better is the going for the head nodding "Total Package", that gives us more Evidence and Revolution, but also Planet Asia. Machild is spitting his 'plastic explosive' rhymes, that have us find him over the top violent, in super hero circumstances. Showing that we are not the only ones that keep Rob in high regard is "The Reflection", where he's given the chore to do something instrumental, with the other cats eyes closed gathering strengths for further attacks. Like "Ventilate", that is giving us Prev' and Mad' go at each other, throwing all kinds of frustrations about the twosome at each other. Interestingly enough Madchild 'wins' the argument at the end though.
The Members dig Son Doobie out the limbo, who teamed up with them before on "Committed". The name of the game this time around is "Burns And Scars" and with the beat by Rob it appears to be a forward pacing track. The same can be said about the previously released "Dark Riders", that is done by The Alchemist. Madchild is "here's a guarantee, death is instantaneous / mercilessly we maim the miscellaneous / conquering my challenges by reaching within / then Madchild leaves with the screech of the wind", while Buc Fifty is handling the chorus. "Fuel Injected" features one of the most recognizable samples previously used by DJ Shadow, and the way it is hooked up by rascal Kemo, and used here is straight up dope. The chorus however, done by Moka Only, is not to the tracks full well being. Moka is doing something a little too singing, and it sounds good, but would have been better fitted on a smoother song. And the last credited song once more belongs to Rob The Viking and what he puts together is one incredible piece, called "High Road". Yes, even the keyboard piano is made to sound dope, and the spiritual and deep soundscape, makes Prev' and Madchild get quieter and get respectfully melancholic and in Prev's case that sounds something like "I realized that the things I don't need are the things I don't deserve / so I try to live simply in a complicated world".
There's a hidden track coming on after a few moments of silence. And it's an alternative version of "Take It Back". However, even without it we would have been very pleased with this album, that is giving us a bundle of incredible tracks, along with very few tracks that are lagging a little back. That of course is a statement about a style that can't be considered to be universal, and that's a fair statement. The lyrical content, and the hard slicing beats are specialized enough to lack a broader appeal. But maybe that's exactly what makes them so good.
[UrbanSmarts.com]