Waking Android is a meeting of two minds, Kronus and Dsgrace. Both from Belfast, they are veterans of the Irish Hip Hop scene. Kronus has been making beats for various artists in the scene for years, while Dsgrace has been sitting back observing things since he began rhyming at 14. The pair teamed up this year after finding they both had similar tastes in music, to bring us their debut EP Adrenochrome.
After tirelessly gigging all across the country in the lead up to its release, it’s finally here. You can find it on Band Camp , free to listen to or download, along with on YouTube and Sound Cloud . I had a listen, and this is what I thought.
First off, the beats are sick, and production value is high. The rhymes are well written and well performed. It’s a work of art, inspired by each emcee’s life, and that comes across when you listen. There are some issues such as dsgrace’s delivery in some parts; obscuring certain words, and one instance of the sample on the beat obscuring, the lyrics a bit too, but luckily the lyrics are all there on Band Camp for anyone who missed any. I will now delve into the EP song by song and give you a rundown.
Track 1 – Adrenochrome
The intro takes us into the realm of hard-core drug use, namely, the substance extracted from a living human adrenaline gland: Adrenochrome. You may remember it from the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where the main character takes a few drops and madness ensues. A fitting metaphor for this EP.
A gritty underground beat encapsulates what it may feel like to take this drug. You can imagine your head swirling with these sounds circling it. Dsgrace sets it off, addressing rumours of retirement, informing us that his hiatus was taken because he had to “diffuse some bombs while wired”. He assures us he’s still hanging with “bulk wine buyers” and “lighting fires”, while fellow emcees “sulk right by us”.
Then kronus busts in, assuring us that if we want to “stir the shit pot”, then we can “lick the ladle”. That he is the type to neck whiskey and then “flip the table”. And while people joke because his names Kane and ask “where’s Abel?”, he tells us of how he strangled him to death, “with a cordless mic cable”.
These are the thoughts of Waking Android, and you may not catch their meaning on the first listen, I know I had to go back and read the lyrics to understand the complexity. For instance, Kronus describes how he is “the butterfly who fluttered by” and caused a “whirlwind of change through infinite dimensions”, referencing chaos theory, a concept in which even the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause untold changes in this universe and the next.
Dsgrace informs us of Waking Androids status as a “pair of perpetual piss-heads”, and goes on to reference Decepticons as a metaphor, “flexing his lexicon” upon them with words even I had to look up. While Kronus compares himself to The Rock as he drops a peoples’ elbow to the heart, and mixes some slang in while he “fries our loaf” with the adrenochrome dose. If you’re a synesthete beware though, as he warns that his words will give you a seizure.
Track 2 – Frostbit
This one hits with an ill beat with a bit of drum and bass influence, as Kronus introduces himself as the Dragon-Born, imperial warrior whose words form like a swarm of locusts. He describes living in a nightmare while getting little to no sleep, and tells us of how he dug his own grave using his “hand as a spade”, and letting us know of an interest he has in comic books, he compares himself to Dr. Manhattan as he loses touch with his own species.
Dsgrace then steps out of a mushroom cloud, “with an afterglow” and proceeds to get “get high off the fumes” from his “acapella alchemy”. He rummages through empties in this “life full of guzzling”, reminding us of Androids ‘pisshead’ status. He describes how he is lost “at the junction” trying to “figure out his function”, yet his sights are 20/20 when trained on a snare. He speaks of his life being filled with “strange stares” as he dodges train fares, and the “beat blares”, confirming he is addicted to hip hop, “imprisoned in the writtens”.
This tune is fiction mixed with fact in true underground style. Metaphors are abound, and are mixed to describe a struggle they both live through, travelling “cold paths”. Confusion takes hold as their heads and their hearts “drift apart” only to be reunited in music, and art.
Kronus describes going though pain, as his friends only see him joking around, yet he searches for the “bottom of the bottle when its empty”, carrying a load of heavy thoughts, that would “sink in the dead sea”. A metaphor I thought was ingenious was “these aging hands building castles in the sky out of sand”, referring to the art of making music, and staying young at heart.
Track 3 – Spectres
The third tune on the EP, is one of the more serious songs. Dsgrace appears under a “shroud of black clouds”, preaching a “demagogue’s monologue” to the cities inhabitants whose dreams are being whisked away, painting a beautiful picture of the youths’ struggles. He tells us of how he connects with “veterans amongst the bedlam”, how he doesn’t “cry for attention”, but instead “thrives in the quietness, lies with shut eyelids”, premeditating his “massacre of the silence”.
Waking Android describes how hip hop can be a gift and a curse, and leans toward the latter to describe being up all night, “lurching” towards dawn, as they write rhymes and the “pen spurt births the verse”.
Kronus then continues “scripting an internal inferno into this journal”, describing the page as an open friend, helping him escape his heartbreak and hate by writing about it. He then speaks to someone, calling them “the words scripted in between the lines”, the ball point pen to him, “the ink inside”. He expresses the pain of feeling his friends barely know him as he puts on a persona, comparing rapping to impaling himself on “social rails”. He feels lost and alone, despite there being “7 billion people” we “share this life with”, concluding with the belief that his “music, words and memories” are all that he has got.
All in all, this song is a very deep and introspective look at things, painting a picture of the struggle and pain most of us have gone through, and I can definitely relate.
Track 4 – Demogorgon
The title refers to a fictional character from the TV show Stranger Things, named after a figure from the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the villainous “prince of demons”. It’s a reference of a reference. Right off the bat, Kronus “makes a racket like Slazenger” which is a tennis racket manufacturer, he breaks through the spacey instrumental telling a tale of cruising in a “pimped out DeLorean” going 88 mph, assuring us that he is “raps flux capacitor”, making shit possible. More metaphorical references populate this verse, as Kronus “Manipulates heads like Derren Brown” and his “rep grows intergalactic”. He compares his verses to the bible and his fans as “disciples” spreading his message, asserting his stance in the end that Waking android is Vinyl and the rest are only CD quality.
They set themselves apart from the competition, letting us know they are on some “other dimensional shit”, and that “that’s why it’s hard for some cats to make sense of this shit”’.
Dsgrace then comes in with a verse about splicing sentences “precisely to satisfy a vice”. While he depicts the “highs of low life”. A line I particularly liked was “I operate with callousness to paralyse the passionless”. He describes “home-made bombs from the infidels” as he sits pretty in the “citadel”, and how his lines are creating heart palpitations.
Overall, you can tell the pair had fun writing this one. More witty metaphors and intricate rhymes, the only problem with this tune is the main sample on the beat which kind of masks some of the rhymes, especially in Dsgraces verse.
Track 5 – Labyrinth
This track is driven by a haunting piano melody, which fits well with the poetic lyrics of struggle the emcees spit. Dsgrace describes his head being fried by dreaming of past troubles, “immersed in hindsight” while he watches his back “through reflections”. He feels “lost in the populous” and talks to voices he shouldn’t, all culminating in his “self-destruct” button being hit.
It’s a sad tune they sing, of dreams of death and gasping for breath, summed up by a feeling of “drowning in a river of piss”. Like being lost in depression unable to escape.
Kronus comes with very poetic lyrics, about being tortured, by a waking nightmare in a living hell. A “shadow of doubt” follows him that darkens all he does. “A thorn bush ‘that he ‘can’t fuckin’ crawl through”. He is a “haunted house” with a maze of ever changing hallways, he can’t escape and is just “chilling like jack” and “waiting on the thaw”, a reference to the movie The Shining, where, (spoiler alert) the main character Jack freezes to death in a maze.
It’s a tale of pain and sorrow for definite, and the pain really comes through in the lyrics, you can feel it. This would be my personal favourite tune of the EP due to the poetic nature of the lyrics and the piano on the beat, weaving together to make a work of art, albeit a sorrowful one.
Track 6 – Set Mics 2 Stun
The final song is the most upbeat of them all, beginning with a strange instrument, and building a momentum of suspense as the rest of the instruments come in, a good lot of scratching in the intro which I always like to hear in hip hop, sets the scene for Kronus to hit hard with his verse. He welcomes us to “Shamrock, Irish Hip Hop kid”, and he keeps the suspenseful momentum going with his lyrics about “breaking the ice with the clash of shattering glass”, and “rising like a phoenix from the ash on the pavement”, painting a picture of himself as a superhuman character.
On this tune, Waking Android are here to “set mics to stun” and astound with their fast paced, ill lyrics. Then Dsgrace comes in, straight up dissing other emcees, calling them “rhyming retards” and describes nicking their studio keys. He claims their hearts aren’t in it, “vital organs missin”, and claims he “shoots looks like cyclops, for what’s in your iPod”, disapproving of some emcees tastes in music. He roasts emcees who pose for promo photos, describing their face as “looking like they caught a brick in the face from Quasimodo”. He doesn’t hold back on the “comedy roastin” of emcees here, that’s “causin’ commotion”, finishing off with an assertion that he “spits a sicker rap” and will “rip the sticker off your fitted cap”, placing himself above any and all competition.
The outro is sick too, with more scratches, and the beat fits the lyrics well. Bringing the feeling that we should all be prepared for Waking Androids rise.
In conclusion
This is a decent Hip Hop album, a good first release for the group and I enjoyed listening to it a good few times. It has playback quality too, as the complexity of the rhymes become more apparent with each listen. While it’s hard to make out some of the rhymes to start with, the lyrics on band camp really help and read like poetry without the music. The beats are very good, with Labyrinth and Set Mics 2 Stun’s instrumentals standing out the most for me. While there are some fun metaphors and rhymes in there, overall it paints a picture of struggle and suffering, gritty pain and despair, especially in Spectres and Labyrinth. Let’s hope the lads overcome their demons.
This isn’t by far the last you will hear from Waking Android though, as this EP is just the beginning. The duo are planning on a summer 2018 release of the as-of-yet untitled sequel to Adrenochrome, and I personally cannot wait to see what’s in store for that one!
For more on the group you can follow them on twitter here , or Facebook here , and keep up to date with their releases and gigs. Peace!