Though I do enjoy a lot of material from Death Grips, I cannot say I've ever enjoyed a full album in its entirety. This is probably not that unusual for an experimental group, as some experiments are bound to disappoint at some point. There's always that one or two tracks that just bother me due to their somewhat annoying qualities, that take the "it's not made to be enjoyed" aspect of industrial music a little too far; 'Blood Creepin' and 'Up My Sleeves' come to mind. I feel like the closest Death Grips ever came to a thoroughly enjoyable album was The Money Store, due to its more direct but still radically experimental and abrasive nature, though ExMilitary is still my favorite, in spite of 'Blood Creepin' (most likely due to the freedom to use more sampling because it was a free mixtape. Sampling artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, the Beastie Boys, and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown won them major points). Well, move over ExMilitary, because Bottomless Pit is their most direct, consistent and overall enjoyable album to me.
From the first track, I knew this was going to be something special. I'm kind of just listening to the female vocal line, and then....are those blast beats? Death Grips hinted a little bit at their knowledge of black metal (check out the Mayhem references on 'Centuries of Damn'. Shout out to Myke C Town for pointing that out in his review of Jenny Death), but here they fully go for it with the blast beats and furious guitars. I really enjoy the guitars they've been incorporating since their last album. I know they're experimental hip hop, but I've always enjoyed guitars as opposed to synthetic instruments.
I also really enjoyed 'Eh', MC Ride's ode to being totally over everything. That is definitely not the approach he takes to his lyrics or performances here. He's still intense and aggressive here, but I can appreciate that he's mixing in some of the more subdued vocals from the first disc of The Powers That B, so that's not all screamed, giving the album some breathing room. And shout out to Flatlander and Zach Hill for some of the group's most raucous, detailed and layered beats yet. They are so weird and confounding at points, but always get your blood pumping. They even bend typical trap production techniques to their will in 'Bubbles Buried in this Jungle', among other songs. It's pretty hard to make sub bass, snares and high hats interesting in this day and age, but they pull it off.
All in all, I think this is Death Grips' most accessible and direct offering, but is still extremely experimental and rewards multiple listens. I feel like The Money Store really established the group's sound, and this album perfected it.
What did you think of the album? Stop back in later, as I'll be sharing my opinions on Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, as well as Chance the Rapper's newest mixtape, Coloring Book.
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