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Between Heaven and Hell

Draztik

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Horrorcore Artist Draztik was born in the great state of Texas, but joined the Air Force quickly after wrapping up High School. He found himself writing the first lines to “Psychopathic Monster,” while stationed in Turkey. Eventually, he found himself living in New Mexico and developing his skills as an underground artist. His latest release, “Between Heaven and Hell,” dropped on May 1st, 2015 and I think it’s about time we give it a proper look.

As I always say, I’m not a big fan of intros because they mostly feel like a place holder to me. I will grant you that some definitely set the tone or theme or even tell a story, but… it doesn’t always work to the artists’ advantage. In this case, the “Intro” isn’t bad, but seems a bit uneven. The acting is fine and the premise (confessing his sins, asking for forgiveness, committing suicide and going to Hell) works well, but the concept is missing something. If Draztik is between both Heaven and Hell, it would seem his suicide should have placed him somewhere along these lines. Of course if this is his Hell, it’s a proper way to begin the album. As intros go, it wasn’t that bad though. 3/5

The opening track, “Enter Draztik,” is a welcoming introduction of sorts to the man behind the paint and the style of music he brings to the table. While the rhymes are definitely there, the delivery seems to need some tightening here. Draztik’s style does sit well with the beat, both of which offer a classic throwback type of feeling. Overall, the track has an old school horrorcore feel to it and definitely gives you an idea of what to expect from the album. 3.5/5

Changing things up with, “It’s All Right,” things instantly give way to a faster and more rock inspired beat. This continues with Draztik’s more energetic flow on this track as well and ultimately results in a track that comes together well. It was nice to see a stylistic switch so quickly on the album, but Draztik’s vocals seem like they could have been turned up a bit on this one. 3.5/5

Though I’m not a massive fan of intros, a nice skit can really be nice break in the pacing of the album. Unfortunately, this “Skit”(featuring Faygoluvers very own Juggalotus) seems to come rather quickly. After a long, nearly three minute intro and only two tracks we are presented with this. It is essentially a nice lead in for the following track, but again it would have been nice to see more distance between the intro and the only skit on the entire album. 3/5

“Holla Back,” offers a head nodding bass heavy beat that fits perfectly with the party atmosphere that this song projects. Lyrically Draztik keeps pace and shows a different side then we’ve seen from the previous tracks on the album. All in all the song comes together well and is delivered with a nice, simplistic chorus. The biggest nagging issue here, is just how familiar that beat is. 3.5/5

An electronic-style beat lines the background for this track and gives us one of Draztik’s best performances so far. The delivery is on point and the vocal track seems to be at the proper level, which makes a massive difference. While HaZe delivers a great hook on “In the Dark,” I was surprised to not see her with a verse as well. This would have definitely put the track over the top. 4/5

“The Other Side,” offers a more somber beat that flows perfectly with the lyrical content. An emotional track that gives Draztik a chance to showcase another great performance. Molly West softly delivers the chorus and brings the track together nicely. Overall, this was a strong track that ultimately felt like one of the best tracks on the entire album. 4.5/5

As I stated above the first lyrics for “Psychopathic Monster,” were written while Draztik was still serving and in Turkey. It’s clear that his lyrics aren’t as solid as previous tracks, but they stand well with Mars and T.O.N.E-Z. Both guests offer great verses that stand out, but it’s the latter that delivers the strongest effort of the three. It was nice to see that Draztik came back to deliver a second verse to end the track. 4/5

“Love Me/Hate Me,” changes things up by dropping a bass heavy, electronic heavy beat. While the hook isn’t the most elaborate it feels right for this track and sits well between Draztik’s verses. Once again the deliver is on point and we get another good performance lyrically. 3.5/5

An ominous pulse leads into one of the most unique beats I tink I’ve honestly ever heard, but at first it nearly obscures Draztik’s lyrics. Fortunately, this problem seems to fade rather quickly and everything seems to come together. “Fight Back,” offers a hook as different as the beat and certainly stays in keeping with the subject matter we find here. Draztik ends up offering one of the strongest performances of the entire album as he takes control of this track and closes the album out beautifully. 4/5

I said that he closed out the album on the previous track, but it isn’t the final track on the album. Honestly, you would expect “Syrie’s Song,” to be an outro based on its’ 36 second track time. Of course it’s not really that at all. What we close with is probably the best counterpart to the intro that I could have imagined, a song sung by his baby daughter. It’s cute (yeah I said cute, so what? I’ve got three kids of my own.) and if he was headed to Hell in the intro, perhaps this is the glimpse of his Heaven. 4/5

TRACKS:

  1. Intro
  2. Enter Draztik
  3. It’s All Right
  4. Skit (Featuring Juggalotus)
  5. Holla Back
  6. In the Dark (Featuring Amanda HaZe)
  7. The Other Side (Featuring Molly West)
  8. Psychopathic Monster (Featuring Mars & T.O.N.E-Z
  9. Love Me/Hate Me
  10. Fight Back
  11. Syrie’s Song

Overall, the album was a strong effort that really showed the diversity of Draztik as an artist and where he may be headed in the future. Some of the vocals seems as if they could have been turned up on a few tracks, but this was an impressive outing and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on his next release as well. 3.5/5

FAVORITE TRACKS:

  1. The Other Side (Featuring Molly West)
  2. Fight Back
  3. In the Dark (Featuring Amanda HaZe)

 

 

Release Date:

  • 05/01/2015

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