Synopsis: Good mix of old-style JMT battle raps and some new directions. A few gems, but some mediocre tracks. Overall, not JMT's strongest effort, but a good addition to a dedicated fan's collection.
Pros:
- The rhymes and flow from Vinnie are pretty much as sharp as ever. The multies come as thick and fast as we're used to.
- Although I haven't heard all the previous albums, I know some of JMT's earlier albums, like Violent by Design, which mostly consist of battle raps. Although this is cool, if you like that sort of thing, and the production and rhyming/flow have always been top notch, it meant JMT lacked variation in their topics. This newest album explores some new directions, with more serious and deep topics coming in. E.g. - Uncommon Valor: a Vietnam Story covers a foot soldier's viewpoint of the vietnam war, Shadow Business looks at the sweatshop situation in American Samoa (though it could be the same in any sweatshop), Razorblade Salvation puts Vinnie in the place of a guy once considering suicide, now discovering new meaning to life, and Black Winter Day gives an insight into Vinnie's inner pains and struggles. This new depth to the lyrics improves the whole JMT experience.
- While the subject matter might not be highly original in every track (hey it's hard to be these days), the way Vinnie puts it across is as fresh as you're gonna get. No one else does the style Vinnie uses. Points for freshness there.
- The beats have some slightly strange melodies, but in general they're still as dope as ever from Stoupe.
- There are a couple of real gems on here: the tracks When All Light Dies, Shadow Business, Uncommon Valor and Black Winter Day are my favourites with dope lyrics and beats.
Cons:
- This album uses synthesized childlike/female voices in many of the hooks instead of proper female vocals. These can be pretty annoying. I find they get less annoying with repeated listening, but they never actually get good. I gotta say that the good beats kind of make up for it though.
- Of the album's 16 tracks, 5 are skits or mini-tracks. The album is pretty short anyway, at under 50 mins including the skits.
- Although there are some really sick tracks as I said, a few of them are pretty mediocre. Let me stress, there are no really weak tracks... but not that many outstanding ones either.