Avalanche The Architect’s new album, Let There Be War, is clear in its intent. Straight to the point. This is obvious from the start of the album’s first track, Talk The Talk, where the first 20 seconds summarise what the Architect is all about. His intricate lyrical style is unmistakable as he wastes no time in getting down to it, weaving words together with the skill of a poet, whilst his aggressive rapping style offers a very intriguing contrast.
Ango Ambo starts in a similar way to the first song, with the New-York based rapper saying his own name, followed by his signature high-pitched ‘lalalala’ before the beat kicks in. This album consistently offers gritty, heavy beats that carry high levels of impact - as wells the occasional trap hi-hat and frequent use of keys with a percussive element - perfectly complimenting Avalanche The Architect’s hard-hitting lyrical delivery. He makes a point of clearly annunciating and shouting his lyrics, representing somewhat of a war against mumble rap, a style that has become much more prevalent in the rap scene over the past decade. Avalanche, however, has different ideas for the genre. He’s heavily influenced by old-school hip-hop, where lyrics were brought to the forefront and articulated with emphasis. The creative rhyme schemes he’s built for himself seem to force your ears to gravitate even more towards the equally creative lyrics, making for a much more intimate listen as he raps about personal experiences.
The song Bring Boom Bap Back just furthers his desire for boom bap – a subgenre of hip-hop from its golden years in the late 80s-early 90s – to become a popular style of music once again. The line ‘Avalanche bring boom bap back’ is repeated four times at the start of the song, suggesting that he’s tasking himself with boom bap revival, encouraging others to join in too. The line ‘I’ll bring the boom bap back, I’ll make it happen’ in the album’s final tune, The Lyricalist, solidifies the rapper’s determination to bring back the style he’s so passionate about.
Another key feature of Let There Be War is maximal words in each song. This is a feature that is prevalent in many genres and has been for decades. For example, Bob Dylan has mastered the art of filling almost every second of a song with lyrics and making his lines as long as possible, leaving almost no time between one line and the next. Avalanche has embedded this technique into his craft, notably in the appropriately titled song, Lyrical Mastery.
Avalanche The Architect’s raw energy and tangible passion for the genre ensures that Let There Be War will go down as a great addition to the great ocean of boom bap albums that already exist.
You can find his music, videos, and Instagram account here: