I become more and more convinced every day that Triple Darkness have the finest roster of any crew in England. Melanin 9 and Cyrus Malachi have both dropped UKHH classics over the past few years, and the addition of Iron Braydz to the troop only adds to their formidable reputation.
While we wait for their elusive follow up LP however, Braydz has been quietly planning a string of his own releases for 2014.
His debut ‘Devil May Cry’ was a slept on classic, mixing strong Wu-Tang influences into acauldron of dense multisyllabics and ancient mythology. All of those elements are still here on this new EP, but presented in a different way. With the exception of the dope ‘Millenium’, Braydz paints his dark, aggressive rhymes over a more busy and unsettled style of production. ‘Scorpion Sting’, ‘Dredd’ and ‘Rambo’ feature loud cymbal crashes, twisted vocal samples and seriously off- kilter guitar strums. I won’t lie, some of these beats are so deliberately repulsive that they caused a few migraines this week.
Death Grips this ain’t though. Braydz’ focus is still largely on forging impeccably technical rhyme schemes, providing social commentary and complex imagery in equal measure. Even rapping alongside Prince Po from Organized Konfusion himself, Braydz more than holds his own alongside the American veteran. At times the message is perhaps lost in a haze of noise, which explains my preference for minimalism within this form.
Regardless of the flavour, Iron Braydz always serves up rhymes that are of the strictly highest order. With the exception of a select few, including a couple of whom from his own clique, nobody comes close to his pure rhyming prowess at this point in time. One can only assume that the projects over the coming months will explore different terrain but, for now, it is pretty exhilarating to hear this guy back spitting full stop.
Review by Jonathan Rimmer