Blades (of Hades) - Shadow Art (Steal City Records - 2008)

It doesn't happen to me that often in the modern hip hop era but there are still rare occassions when a new group comes along that blows me away in ways that used to happen when I first heard a lot of artists during the golden era days. Blades (AKA Blades of Hades) from right here in Australia (Newcastle to be precise) are one such group that totally hooked me on first listen in that same way and upon hearing their third and newest album, "Shadow Art", I'm happy to say I'm still just as impressed.

What I like most about these guys (and girl) ie. MC's Kid Lyrical, Wizardry, Dusk (the girl) and DJ Skoob is that they are one of the very few groups in Australia these days that have a feel of our beloved britcore to their sound. Not to say that every song of theirs can be labelled as having that old UK flavour, as they do offer a bit of variation in their styles, but each album has at least 3 or 4 tracks that sit right in the pocket of the aforementioned style, or at least as close as you'll get to it from an Aussie crew post year 2000. It's apparent in some of the beats and the feel of the music but even more so in the way Kid Lyrical and Wizardry deliver their rhymes ie. they are relentless, full of high energy, rapid flowing and would leave most other MC's breathless trying to keep up. Admittedly they sound pretty similar to each other when they are going hell for leather pace but I'd be happy to hear 20 MC's all sounding like that as it's a great way to sound.

Britcore or not, their music is very raw, hard and stripped back, to the point of being pretty simplistic at times perhaps, which however is not in any way a detriment. On the contrary, it's what endears me most to their music. Take the opening track "Cannibalistic Act" for example. The soundtrack is really nothing much more than a mid tempo, almost live sounding, very heavy drum break with equally heavy metal guitar chords on top of it throughout the song. Add to it a bit of DJ work and a changeup in the middle of the track where the guitars are "turned off" whilst female MC, Dusk, drops her verse and that's about the extent of complexity to the song. Guess what though - this is one of my favourite tracks on the album and I love it because it's hard as fuck and raw and Kid Lyrical and Wizardry are ripping the mics with absolute power, force and energy. This is not sit back and chill, cruisy rhyming here - these boys mean business. I do have to say though that with her soft, almost whispered flow, Dusk doesn't seem to suit the heavier tracks like this and I do struggle to hear and understand what she's saying at times. She definitely has skills and rips pretty fast on a couple tracks, but she just seems too quiet and inaudible alongside the two guys, with their aggressive and strong "in your face" verbal assaults , who far overpower her.

"R.I.P" and "Backyard Dentistry" are constructed in similar fashion to "Cannibalistic..." as well, albeit with their own differences which allow them to stand alone."R.I.P" is my top track on this album and is the one I'd play to someone as my attempt to prove the "Blades do britcore" theory. It actually sounds somewhat like a sped up version of "Cannibalistic Act", with a basic enough break and heavy guitars again providing the chassis of the track. However there is far more DJ work, more breakdowns and a bit of background activity going on as well - it's just overall faster and busier and reminds me of the old Westside Sydney sound of the 90's (think of groups like 046 or Capital Punishment) which was, at times, a sound influenced by the UK hardcore style. "Backyard Dentistry" is quite interesting as the beat is slower here than the prior mentioned tracks, to the extent of head nodding pace (with a cool little flute thrown in now and then), but the guys actually speed up their rhyming in parts and give an awesome display of skills in rapid fire emceeing. In fact if anyone reading this has heard of Sydney crew Base Dynamics, who were around a few years ago, this song reminds me of them and they were one of those Westside Sydney crews who brought the hard UK influenced styles.

On a different tip, "Backnforth" is a very slow, very funky head nodder, with Asian strings in effect adding a bit of mood to the song. Dusk seems to be in her element here and really shines on this one and to me is far more suited to this sort of track. "Proceed With Caution" picks up the pace and is the kind of song that seems to build intensity as the track progresses and features a couple brilliant verses from both male MC's (who unfortunately leave Dusk somewhat struggling again). Especially impressive is the last verse which is delivered in superb rough britcore tinged ballistic style, a style which is not that far from Bandog territory ! Oh and then for something totally left of centre and unique, Spanish rhymes even get a run on the slow, low and very dark "Tribe Ill".

If there's any lesser tracks on the album they are the futuristic, super scientifical Dr Octagon'esque "V.T. Drifter", the slighty awkward somewhat g-funked "Art of Darkness" and the not as hard, ambient, moody remix of "Cannibalistic Act" - but they are only "lesser" compared to the mindblowing hard hitting highlights and nothing is wack or unlistenable on the album at all.

Last but not least, the album finale "The Burning (Intro Tunz)" is simply stellar and has to be mentioned here. Given it's name I'm not sure if it was supposed to be the intro to the album but it serves just as well, if not better, as a concluding piece. It starts off with a warning siren of sorts and then takes us to an excerpt from a Blades live show with dramatic classical music over it. When the song proper kicks off and it's basically a high speed, frenetic rhyme attack from all three MC's (and yes Dusk even sits wonderfully on this one and makes me eat my earlier words about her not suited to hard tracks) over a heavy earth shaking beat with the epic sounding classical music continuing throughout and it features a couple great changeups where the pace of the music drops off momentarily (but not the relentless pace of the rhymes) then takes off again back to the dramatic hyper assault. The first time I heard it, I had goosebumps listening to it - it's a monumental track !

As I said at the outset, I rarely react in such a way to new releases in this day and age but this is one album that I have gone nuts over (I only bought it TODAY - yep had to write about it after one listen) and I am so, so, so excited that Blades exist in my hip hop world. I have heard too, that since touring Europe and making some appropriate connections with britcore heads there, that Blades are planning to make tracks with UK legends such as Killa Instinct in the near future. That will be something to behold and exactly the realm of sound and company that I'd want Blades to be in and go even further with. They are, without question, my No.1 Australian hip hop group of today.