The worlds of metal and rap have often merged to make an interesting, if not always successful, musical hybrid. The idea is that the injection of urban elements makes the heavier sound more accessible and that the hard rock makeover brings hip-hop and rap to a new audience. Well, it does if things are done right. And if you want to know what constitutes “doing it right,” then you could do a lot worse than give Skunkworks a spin.
Across eighteen tracks, Hu$h brings these two worlds seamlessly together. Sometimes the songs lean more towards one end or another of the musical spectrum he has chosen to explore. The opener Coldthrust and the abrasive and metallic Are We Dead Yet? tick many boxes for heavier music fans, and songs such as Plunk will appeal more to the urban crowd.
But for the most part, Hu$h deftly weaves between the two sonic realms, matching hard rock swagger with electro cool, beat with bombast, melody with muscle, and underground dance sonics with metal salvos.
As I say, such fusions have, in the past, delivered mixed results. But Skunkworks is the sound of someone getting things spot on.
