Release Date: 9 June 2017
Song Count: 17
Duration: 51 minutes, 2 seconds
Rating: 6.7/10
Description:
Song Count: 17
Duration: 51 minutes, 2 seconds
Rating: 6.7/10
Description:
Been about time since we brought out the big guns again. BROCKCHAMPTON was a hip-hop group that was widely known and respected for their experimental approach to their genre of expertise, and what we are looking at today is the eye of the beast: the debut album SATURATION, the first of a trilogy of albums. This beginning is often said to have musically set the stage for a lot of the most beloved works of the "boy band" later on, and when actually listening into it, it is easy to see the reasoning. The debut album often carries the additional task of trying to set the tone of the discography of an artist or band, and this one is no exception to the rule, introducing the unique sound its creators known for.
The then-seven members of the group all make their distinct appearances throughout the 17 tracks in the album, all with their own styles of vocal deliveries and rap flows. Atop beats of varying levels of energy, the performers speak of drug use, personal identity and struggles with interpersonal relationships, amongst many other topics, and almost every song is presented in an entirely different manner - a trait the band eased themselves into with this attempt and held onto for the rest of their discography. Dancing on the line between melodic passages and bouts of aggression in rapping, the general sound of it all bounces all over the place, leading to some interesting song structures taking shape over the course of the 51 minutes the album plays for.
Many of the original SATURATION's outputs, though having no issue standing out from the crowd in any way, had a harder time catching my mental attention than what I expected going in. It is clear here that BROCKCHAMPTON was following the balls-to-the-wall methodology with their first full-length shot, but in spite of that, connecting threads were still present and being pulled, both thematically and sonically. While far from the best I have heard of the rap world or even this group themselves, there are multiple songs here that may stick in rotation for the cases of a mood that calls for this kind of music in the future, most notably "GOLD", "CASH", "BUMP" and "FACE". All one-word titles as well, I should mention, as that seems to be the naming scheme here. Either way, perhaps the later two releases of the grand trilogy of albums shall see this very front page as well in the future - let us see where the grand journey of music takes us.