Krohme has just released a powerful sophomore album titled Before the Animals Know You’re Dead. As of now, the record is available exclusively on Bandcamp. We applaud this choice, as it helps return value to music by directly supporting artists. Bandcamp has been an excellent platform for artists to get paid for their work. All major streaming platforms, such as iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube fall far short of providing a sustainable income to artists. Artists are walking away with just a few pennies for thousands of listens.
The album is a dynamic hip hop release featuring a range of guest artists and is already receiving strong support on Bandcamp. It is available in multiple formats: vinyl, CD, and digital download. Dedicated fans are encouraged to collect all three.
The introduction song to the record, featuring Juba, is a great set-up to the album. It has the same title as the record and features a powerful introductory speech. It lays the ground for the rest of the record to get unleashed.
The next track, Scorpion’s Harpoon features an old school style hip hop beat. The drums sound huge, the snare echos with reverb, and the kick sounds thick. The drum sounds are absolutely hypnotizing, especially in conjunction with the smooth bass groove. This song is a vibe, it’s the type of song that people would listen to at a stoner party that only the in-crowd could get invited to. This song features Sleep Sinatra, Money Mogly and Danny Diablo.
The vibes continue for Mustard Gas featuring Kurupt, Apathy and Bub Styles. Krohme has a track that is catchy from the first note. The hook melody is contagious and plays throughout the song, keeping the listener looped in. The rap flow comes in after the hook that starts off the song, and it’s super smooth, packed with clever lyrics that will bring the listener to a jaw drop. One of the greatest lyrics on this song is “You never say it, but the devil talks you outta your faith.”
The next track brings you to another dimension because the synths are pulsating and bring a dreamy feeling to this hip hop track. It really feels like floating which is perfect because the name of the song is Float. This track features LMNO, Kemo the Blaxican and Mvtha Cvla. It’s immediately captivating because of the synths and the lyrics:“E.T. Krohme home, we see ozone, be free, no phone, leave me alone.” This song keeps up with the extra terrestrial theme, talking about space and spaceships, floating, and the golden lines: “Toke on Alien OG, hot boxing the UFO” and “UV lenses ’cause the future’s too bright.” With all the space-themed lyrics, Krohme eventually brings it back to Earth, “I’m a human having a human experience.” I like these lyrics because they are showing us that music can create an experience that is out-of-this-world, and it sounds grounding to acknowledge the humanness underneath it all.
One of the most captivating songs on the record is LiveFromTheBasement featuring Backwood Sweetie, Kenilworth Katrina and Indigo Phoenyx. I think this track is super important not just to the record but also to the hip hop world in general because it highlights female rappers and artists. It’s hard for women to get a platform in hip hop. These artists truly pack incredible heat, giving the delivery their all, great lines and impeccable rhythm. This track stays captivating from start to finish.
Listeners will be pleased to hear that the hook melody on the next track allows women to keep on shining. The Levee Breaks has the featured artists Breez Evahflowin, Moka Only, Mr. Lif and Prowess The Testament. This song adds another dynamic sound to the record. It is the most laid-back track so far, featuring a slower drum beat, electric keyboards, and horns. The music has elements of jazz and R&B, creating a fusion of genres that keeps the listener interested. Adding another genre to the record is a smart choice, especially because younger audiences have trouble getting into full albums like older generations. This is another flaw of a streaming-driven music industry. Adding extra genres to records helps to keep listeners interested as it breaks up the sound, keeping it fresh.
This mix of genres continues on for Womb2TheGrave featuring Young Buck, The Bad Seed and Zenyth. This song immediately starts with a reggae style chorus section. It’s got a low growling bass that carries a lot of the weight of the sonic aspect of the track. It sounds like a drone, adding an element of thickness to the record that listeners will feel in their bones. This one will definitely rattle the car mirrors. The mix of reggae and hip hop was unexpected but comes as a great surprise. My favorite line on this song is, “I’m in a room full of goons, we on mushrooms.”
We return to an old school hip hop flavor with Kitchen Sink Gumbo feat. Empuls, Kahlee and Wild Pigeon. This song features turntablism, that scratching, glitching sound that is highly associated with early hip-hop. The song has a lot of space in it, allowing the rap flow to take up most of the track. A chaotic (in terms of notes) but rhythmic piano, adds an interesting touch to the track.
You can’t have a hip hop record without some guitars that sound like sirens? Dernier Cri featuring Mike McTernan and Sage Francis bring those siren style guitars and more. This song leans toward doom metal. Distorted bass, distorted vocals, and heavy drums take over the track. The song features screaming and lots of musical tension. Although this song is so outside the hip hop genre, Krohme still manages to make the record flow from start to finish while including this track. That is a legendary feat.
“Before the Animals Know You’re Dead is the culmination of 2 years of ideas built around emcees and musicians. It’s the most complex project I’ve created and the complexity is in the music itself. It’s organic. It’s evolving. It’s many different genres all at once.” – Krohme
Those hip hop beat and grooves are back though for Comrades featuring Cappadonna, Trife Diesel and Ty Farris. My favorite part of this track is the groovy bass line. The track deserves to be listened to twice in a row, once focusing on the lyrics, and once just focusing on the bass line in collaboration with the other musical elements. I would personally love to hear an instrumental version of this track as well.
River Monsters brings the dreamy synths back with the hip hop beat. It also brings the electric guitars back, riffing catchy classic rock/metal sounding riffs. This song is a true fusion of genres, and while it leans hip hop, the other genres of inspiration can be heard very clearly. Krohme makes this fusion sound very organic, another mark of a true artist and a great producer. This song features the artists Gunsmoke, Jeck Da General and Bless Picasso.
We are getting close to the end of the record, but this thing is still holding strong, with excellent tracks, track after track. When the World Falls Apart featuring The Cloaks, Bizzy Bone & RhymeStyleTroop is a catchy track because of the descending bass line and the hook vocal line which is tuned up/sped up, giving the record a little bit of early 00s hip hop flavor.
Lambs vs Lions features Christian Olde Wolbers, Kreng, Estee Nack, Lord Goat, G Fam Black, Squeegie Oblong and O the Great. This is track thirteen on the record, and it starts off sounding like it’s Friday the 13th. This track has a Halloween feel to it because of the spooky soundscapes and eerie sounding pianos. I enjoyed this track because it adds yet another sound to the record. Krohme really knows how to keep it interesting from start to finish. The record ends with an outro Finis Dierum, to finish similarly to how it started. “The sun will go down for the last, last time.”
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Written by Ryan Cassata
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