Scarlxrd – “Infinity”
23rd April 2019 0 By Gavin GriffithsDo you remember a couple of years agoā¦KANYE WEST came out with THAT ludicrous comment, stating that rap was the new rock ānā roll, and that the rappers themselves were the new rock stars? Oh how the rock and metal community scoffedā¦Corey Taylor would openly call him out on his bullshit (Not that the man ever needs encouragement) and I can guarantee a lot of old school metal fans would have head-banged themselves to death in a mixture of bewildered anger and amusement, and I donāt mean they were listening to the āScream Bloody Goreā! As you can imagine, the whole situation turned into one big Lupe Fiasco, but Kanye was being Kanyeā¦somehow giving us even more reasons to dislike him than his āmusicā already didā¦but do you know the worst bit? In hindsight, he was rightā¦
In the few years that have passed, rap, hip-hop and all of its sub-genreās have been growing exponentially, dominating the airwaves and getting all of the attentionā¦whether itās been from the London Grime movement with STORMZY going from underground rapper to Glastonbury headliner in 2019ā¦whether itās the American Mumble-Rap boom with the likes of POST MALONE living his best life drowning in Bud Light sponsorship, or 6IX9INE who, to be fair just looks like his parents should have simply done that instead of have himā¦but, the straw that broke the camelās back, was SCARLXRD.
Scarlxrd (Pronounced Scarlord, but Real name Marius Listhrop) was originally a YouTuber before taking up a career in rap, when he eventually made his breakthrough with the track āHeart Attackāā¦but itās not the fact that heās another SoundCloud rapper making name for himself thatās got the metal community irkedā¦itās the style in which heās done it over the course of several self-released records. Combining elements of hip-hop, trap and metalcore, his sound is truly a musical bastardisation of styles and genres that theoretically have no right being together. Letās check out his newest record; āInfinityā and youāll see what I meanā¦
The album opens up with āI Want Tx See Yxu Bleedā and no my keyboard isnāt broken, itās just his āthingāā¦he replaces all of his oās with xās and itāll be repeated throughout the album. The song itself is no more than a sinister contrast; the minimalist keys and percussion of the icy trap-beat take a back seat to the vitriolic vocal display; alternative rap delivered as if by a metalcore/deathcore front-manā¦imagine a black Oli Sykes circa 2006. Lyrically itās a typical mission statement of him against the world, heās doing things differently, his own way; taking shots at the status quo and heās an underdog full of piss and vinegar, but heās capable of dropping some decent bars.
āYxu Make Me Sickā follows up and Iāll tell you whatās making ME sick, remembering to spell these tracks wrong with the xāsā¦Iāll have convinced myself Iām dyslexic by the time Iām done here I swear! I digressā¦the track itself takes on a similar approach musically with the chilling synths coming off as almost hypnotic amidst some incredibly thick bass, but vocally itās a lot more of the same. The chorus is a repetitive barrage and in all honesty I want to give the poor dab some Zantac, but his disgust is aimed at the very scene and culture he emerged from; all of the clichĆ©d high-rollers in hip-hop. With lyrics like āIām not rocking no iceā a dig at those who feel the need to flaunt wealth but have less of a shelf life than bread and milk during a snow storm.
The rest of the album doesnāt really differ greatly from track to track by any means to be perfectly honestā¦āSx Sadā musically mixes classic hip-hop with an almost childlike innocenceā¦like an extreme, urban version of āAlfieā by LILY ALLEN if you will conceptually, the cartoonish aspects masking the message at first glance, but here the vocals are at their starkest contrastā¦āI Can Dx What I Wantā has more befitting instrumentation with the inclusion of some much more appropriate electric guitar, allowing for more of a nu-metal aesthetic, while āNx Adviceā has some up-beat electronic elements and carries more of a retro vibe but again, the vocals clash so hard itās off putting at times. If there are any highlightās to be picked out it would have to be āHxw They Judgeā for its intro alone; the brooding guitar tone and methodical build, which coupled with the overall lower tempo allows for a more atmospheric listen.
The question weāre left with regarding olā Scarlxrd here now is; where the hell do we put him? Heās arguably to metal for the hip-hop kids, the zombie chav horde will just label him as āgofficā as they do with anything remotely rocking, while many of the OG metal community themselves with want nothing to do with him for this Frankenstein of a genre crossover. Whatās undeniable though is that heās a forward thinking, progressive artistā¦you canāt knock the manās ingenuity. Heās equally likely to build bridges between musical demographics as he is to burn them; and itās that divisiveness thatāll see him continue to grow. The point is itās different, and it doesnāt matter if you like him or not, itās encouraging to see artists continue to take alternative music in new directions. Still struggling for positives? At least heās not DRAKE how about that?
Score: 5 / 10
Track List:
- “I Want Tx See Yxu Bleed”
- “Yxu Make Me Sick”
- “Living Legend”
- “Nx Pressure”
- “STFU”
- “Sx Sad”
- “I Can Dx What I Want”
- “Hxw They Judge”
- “Nx Advice”
- “Berzerk”
- “Head Gxne”
- “Demxns & Angels”
Record Label:
Island Records / Lxrd Records
Release Date:
March 15th (Out Now)For all things Scarlxrd, click HERE and to purchase the album, click HERE
About the author
Gavin Griffiths AKA GavTheGothicChav 31 Based In South Wales Favourite Bands: HIM, The 69 Eyes, Paradise Lost, CKY, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Type-O-Negative, Turbonegro, Depeche Mode... Enjoys: Pizza, Jack Daniel's, Comedy Roasts, WWE, Horror Movies, Sloths, Panda's, Eurovision Dislikes: The Concept Of Being "Offended", Hype, Instrumental Tracks, Interludes, Overly Long Tracks