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Death Grips - Year Of The Snitch
Posted: 2/20/2021 by Sam Bailey ( See All) Show:(2018) I have been waiting to do this review for so long, you don't even understand. Considering the history behind the band and certain online music reviewers (looking at you, Fantano) already covering the band to death, I decided it would be best to start with their most recent album. I've listened to their discography, from the catchy hooks of "The Money Store" to the mostly instrumental and heavily produced "Government Plates" and still I keep coming back to "Year Of The Snitch", or YOTS as I'll be calling it. Death Grips consists of rapper MC Ride, drummer Zach Hill, and producer Andy Morin, each of which have their own projects that have interfered with Death Grips in some way, shape, or form, resulting in various hiatuses or "break-ups", until the band tweeted "Death Grips is Online", which happens to be the first track of YOTS, a synth-filled romp through the album as a fast-paced MC Ride verse plays. After a few semi-forgettable instrumentals with juxtaposed, interesting lines from MC Ride that save the song as a whole, one of the best early album songs entitled "Linda's In Custody" takes a surprisingly soft, but still industrial and electronic approach to Death Grips' usual pattern of song making. "The Horn Section" is a testament to Zach Hill's incredible drumming skills, though it's only about a minute and a half, serving as a short instrumental break and palate cleanser. One of the singles, "Hahaha", is ridiculously catchy for not having a set song structure whatsoever, proving that Death Grips still has appeal even when they're experimenting. One of my personal favorites on the album, "Streaky", plays out almost like a Gregorian chant mixed with "Threw It On The Ground" by The Lonely Island, which in itself is a paradox of a song idea. "Dilemma" is another mostly instrumental-focused track, but is much more gentle by comparison and almost sounds like a plain punk rock song with some keys over it. Finally, my favorite song on the album, "The Fear", after "Little Richard" and its forgettable vocals, comes in with a free jazz feel and MC Ride is still doing his usual semi-poetic rant-rapping and creating somewhat of a hook(?) that sounds so similar to "Ex-Military"-era Death Grips. After one more instrumental break titled "Outro", the final track "Disappointed" plays like the love-child of a corrupted Sega Genesis game's soundtrack and Zach Hill's fevered drumming style married a screaming maniac, specifically MC Ride. Overall, once the album is done, you're left either confused, worried, excited for more, or hopefully a mixture of the three. Death Grips' music has the ability to take the worst in the human experience and turn it into something tangible, consumable, and debated about. Definitely start off with something else in their discography unless you've listened to a lot of Death Grips-esque music before, but otherwise, enjoy "Year Of The Snitch" and whatever the heck it is that it's offering.
Recommended If You Like: Experimental rap, punk, hardcore stuff, awesome production, unintelligible lyrics
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