The day had finally come yesterday. As I opened my mailbox (not e-mail) there it was: a protective square envelope of which I anticipated the contents since the beginning of the new year. And there it was… Armyfatique – The Initiation.
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Armyfatique are LostSun and Krylon. While to me Lost was a newcomer, Krylon has already garnered enough acclaim over the years in The Netherlands and beyond, doing productions and remixes (The Frontline, Select Personnel etc) as well as mixtapes (the well-know ‘For The Headz’ series).
The ‘fatique boys already had us warmed up good with their previous productions for Algerino, Vordul Mega, Bekay and the video release of their Maylay Sparks’ featured track ”Haze‘. ‘The Initiation’ is a solid album that’s aimed primarily at heads, beat-wise. Most of the lyricism is also straight-up streetwise and braggin’ & boastin’ with exceptions of the aforementioned Vordul and Bekay, who touch down on some deeper and personal grounds.
Although the beats are all real hiphop and you would expect some 90′s ish, it’s all tight, clear and varied. Breaks, head-nodders and draggin’ slow bumpers are all represented on the album, displaying the production skills of both producers and especially the fact that they work well together. Really well. The duo doesn’t lay their hands on played-out samples and they even bring in some extra self-played elements which only becomes obvious if you know the originals that were used.
The disc is packed with an intro/outro, 2 interludes and 12 solid bangers. Here’s an overview of the artists featured on the album:
- Mr Methaphor (of Brooklyn Academy)
- Trife Da God
- Access Immortal
- Bekay
- C-Rayz Walz
- Invizzibl Men
- Maylay Sparks
- Q-Unique
- Nems
- Vordul Mega
- A-Alikes
- Karniege
- King Magnetic
- Ciph Barker
- Godilla
- June Marx
At first glance, this line-up is just simply impressive and hardcore. The second noticeable thing is that Ciph Barker is the only Dutch artist featured, in between of all the US (mostly New York) people. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s probably a first for a low-lands production! I’m not counting The Foreign Exchange since that was practically a 1 on 1 project and way more artsy than hardcore.
Back to the album itself. It features a lot of dope cuts and the vocal bits on the intro/outro and interludes are neatly picked and glued together. The mood of all beats ranges from dark and threathening to uplifting and energetic.
Big ups to the Armyfatique for dropping this dope album and letting the world know that The Netherlands is still down with straight hiphop, which is a hard thing to do with all the 8-bit and FL-studio shuffled madness out here right now.
No matter where you’re from, if you like hiphop this album’s for you. You can order the disc here or buy the tracks at iTunes.
P.S. There’s already 1 ‘leaked’ (by AF themselves) track available on zshare, and you can check out some of the other tracks at the Armyfatique Myspace.
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