Lucem Ferre - Something sick Is In Me
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Links to both tracks:
https://soundcloud.com/lucem-ferre17...-sick-is-in-me
https://soundcloud.com/lucem-ferre17/nightmares
That was intense! Rap isn't my usual ballpark, but this has some real energy to it.
The vocals are interesting and theres a bit more flair to the delivery than I expected there to be.
That bone chilling scream later in the track completely caught me off guard!
The lyrics aren't bad either and the line that is repeated most often hits pretty hard:
"Something sick/is in me/it hopes I die/all alone".
Whoa there! That's going to some dark places!
The backing music is pretty neat too. Has a sort of 90's gangsta rap vibe to it (or maybe I'm specifically thinking
of Coolio?), but without in any way sounding like a rip-off. There's a constant feeling of mild distortion. Something that sounds
like an electronic organ sound pops up here and there, sounding really great. Generally, the sounds and samples used here
are crisp and full of expression. Definetely not boring!
I could live without the slight touch of auto-tune. Even more raw vocals would fit better - especially considering the lyrical themes.
Forget about that though - this was excellent.
Lucem Ferre - Nightmares
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Auto tune again... which I'm not a huge fan of. What I really like is the rumbling, ebbing and flowing bass in the background.
There's also some good sounding samples, but were definetely in way less in-your-face territory than the previous track.
The part that starts at 3:42 is really great, but the auto-tuned hook is not all that strong.
Final thoughts
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The second track was pretty well made and I liked parts of it, but the first track is vastly, vastly better.
Actually downright great. I can't think of much hip hop I've enjoyed as much as this track. Keep in mind I don't listen to rap, so what do I know?
For what it's worth, I think it's as good as most of the stuff people have tried to convince me is good hip hop.
As a last point, I'll say that the sheer energy of the vocals is a standout element here. Vocal variety is also good and worth focusing on in the future.
