For being undead – as their new record »In Death Reborn« suggests – the Moshpit-rappers of Army Of Pharaohs present themselves as surprisingly agile. Their latest and fourth studio record starts out, as expected, with a »Curse Of The Pharaohs«, only to illustrate through the following »Midnight Burial« how to properly sound the alarm: with the help of a respectable boon-banger moving in med-tempo, a heroic sounding sample, a somewhat rudimentary synth-track and, finally, with a gang of grim looking, hooded rappers, who’re performing just as grimly. There’re at least four MCs on each of the 14 tracks but the open collective doesn’t only shine through its quantitative superiority. In addition to the founders Vinnie Paz and Esoteric, Army Of The Pharaohs this time consist of the fix members Apathy, Celph Titled, King Syze and Reef The Lost Cause, as well as Blacastan, Zilla, Block McCloud, Demoz, Doap Nixon, King Magnetic and Lawrence Arnel. And they’re hungry, as their nasty lines suggest. They still don’t take prisoners, and even though a few of the emphatically rapped lines might be a bit blunt, they’re still delivered boldly. The concept works well through the length of the record, especially since the beats are presentable all the way through. Of course, there are no experiments to expect from the album, but then again, it’s well impressive how Paul Nice adds the funk to the »Temple Of Luxor« or how Leaf Dog clarifies for whom the bell tolls through his Gravediggaz-vocal cut on »The Demon’s Blade«. A respectable record.
Carmike
Comin’ At Yo Ass
Now-Again