An elusive and intriguing Death.wav more than delivers on his suggestive creativity from the past, with the instantly gripping full-length album For Knows No Bounds.
We begin with a bass-thick and dreamy, industrial yet other-worldly soundscape, topped by a vocal of seemingly sincere appreciation and love, for My World, Soulless The Void (Intro). The bar is set, the heart and artistry united for the long-run, with a hint of RnB free-flow during the latter half, plus a dash of dissonance, all to keep us intrigued.
As the album continues, a rather ominous 27 tracks in full, we meander through equally unpredictable yet often immersive audio realms, with spoken word sentiments providing topical twists, personal reflections, metaphors and imagery in strong supply.
Japanese Flowerbombs is an early highlight and a fine example of all of this. Superb wordplay in a listing format proves inspiring and impressive right the way through.
Within the playlist, we witness various turns in unexpected directions. The likes of Gift Of Gab blend a musical darkness and warped tones with an again heartfelt outpouring of adoration and love. An ultimately revealing story draws the listener further into this ethereal chaos of sound.
Death.wav holds nothing back, approaching the depths of contemplation and mania with an insistence on bringing his audience along for the ride.
Black Dahlia ventures all the more so into the depths of the mind and cultural aches. A stream of consciousness unrelenting amidst this lo-fi arrangement, with a suddenly increasing intensity that again captivates and compels the listener to tune in more closely. Without a doubt, it’s close to impossible to catch every reference and observation the first time around, but certain repeated phrases make sure you’re keen to dive back in.
Dissonance and chaos return for the multi-layered and high-octane yet dream-like The Only Ever Needed Gift. We promptly move from loving considerations to dark and scornful reflections on the self and modern life, and back again – a quality that rings loud throughout the album.
Bringing things to a close is a song called 42. Death.wav showcases the best of his passionate delivery and poetic framing of ideas with this track, backed by a spiralling canned mix of quiet tones and details, with hints of gratitude and resentment again intertwined throughout the performance.
Underground hip hop at its most unfiltered and unapologetic, a sometimes subtle but often explosively outspoken project, with a multitude of production quirks from distortion to warping to retro gamer tones and everything in between. For Knows No Bounds encapsulates the Death.wav artistic identity in a bold and beautiful way.
Download or stream For No No Bounds. Find Death.wav on Soundcloud & Instagram.
