Czarmageddon

After releasing a posthumous MF Doom collaboration and an instrumental LP, providing music for the Marvel flick Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and publishing a graphic novel, Czarface issued the proper full-length Czarmageddon! in 2022. Compared to 2019s The Odd Czar Against Us, an excellent album which deviated from the groups comic saga with lyrics that often focused on real life issues and the woes of modern technology, Czarmageddon! seems thematically back on track, mixing action and fantasy with good old-fashioned hip-hop bravado. The production often centers around heavy, live-sounding drums, gritty bass guitar, and scratching, but there are plenty of deviations, such as the sitar-laced "The Czarlaac Pit" and the lo-fi, almost chillwave "Can It Be?" "Walk Thru Walls" is an easy highlight, combining dense, breathless wordplay with ominous production and an excellent beat switch, and ending with a reference to the groups comic book. "Big Em Up" is a dancehall spy caper with patois-heavy guest vocals by Lion Eye, and "Fearless & Inventive" boasts an on-point Kool Keith feature along with an exquisite, organ-heavy psychedelic rhythm. "Czarv Wolfman" segues from cut-and-paste production, with samples cut in between rapped lyrics, to a more spaced-out beat, and "Logan-5" concludes the album on a relaxed yet fun-loving note. Czarmageddon! became the second Czarface album to crack the Billboard 200, following 2018s Czarface Meets Metal Face. ~ Paul Simpson