LA Magazine: Elite Reviews, Vol 1: Darkness At Noon 3 (mixtape)

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    Posted: 05 January 2017 at 11:58pm
So, firstly I'd like to say that I'm going to be starting a new series of movie and album reviews for LA. My good buddy H4ZE just dropped a mixtape, so I don't think there's any better way to kick off the series with a review of his project.

Let's get into it!

For information purposes, I'd like to say that it took me and Skyler around 4-5 months to make this tape altogether. I mixed and mastered it in it's entirety, as well as executive produced it, so I was there every step of the way to see this project grow. It was really inspirational as an artist to see how hard H4ZE worked, knocking out multiple tracks in just few nights while ending up with this sort of result. 

Enough blabbing, let's cover track one.

DARKNESS AT NOON 3

It's really unfortunate that this track doesn't sit well with me because it's the opening track. As a stand-alone song, it has strength, but it's really the outcast of all the 11 other tracks here. It just feels out of place. As a whole, this project is really grim and moody, either ranging from dark boom bap tracks to somber trap hits. It just feels off that the opening track is also, in a way, the only one to really bring out any sort of brightness in the project's tone. Again, this track itself is GOOD, but in terms of the project, I think it should have been left of the cutting room floor. 

Let me dive deeper into the tracks content. The beat is warm and bright with a nice soulful core to it. The lyrics are dense and straight to the point. It's nothing simple, but it also stops short of anything complex. With a track like this one, however, I think it works well. In terms of rapping, I feel like the laid-back delivery works well with this. The lyrical content almost feels like a reflection, or a "looking back" moment, which makes me feel like this track should have been placed at the end of the project rather than the very beginning. To me, that would have made more sense, as it would have given off the vibe of darkness turning into light. The majority of the album is dark, but in the end, the mood becomes happier. It would have made a peaceful closer. 

In the end, above all the misplaced-ness and nit picky shit, I find this track to be an average track from H4ZE that still is enjoyable for the casual listener.

6.5/10

SHAKE HANDS WITH LUCIFER

Let me start off by saying, this track is fucking awesome lyrically. Though I feel the story could have been a bit more driven and put together nicer, it is still an intricate plot that stands in front of some pretty bold and compelling lyrics. The flow is sharp and the ideas behind the story are witty, but a huge downfall for this song is that H4ZE could have been a lot more involved with his delivery than he actually was. This is going to be a reoccurring theme with the entire album, mind you. What made Darkness At Noon 2 such a dope album for me was how involved and daring H4ZE's delivery was. He was in your face, never letting up for a second as he spit the hardest bars with an almost live-performance-like delivery. Here, however, it feels half-baked and toned down, almost like H4ZE is just reading in a slightly powerful voice. In a way, it helps you focus more on his story that he is telling, but as a listener, you aren't really taken on much of a journey by the artist themselves. This song is one of the strongest on the entire record, and is almost the perfect track, but it falls short of the cut performance wise. All in all, this is still a compelling song that even a hardcore fan of H4ZE's music would love.

8/10

HAPPINESS

This song will go down as one of H4ZE's best ever songs, in my book. I love this track, and in some ways, it beats out Shake Hands With Lucifer as the best song on this album. Delivery wise, this is stronger, and the lyrics are deep in emotion, making you really conscious about your family, friends, and above all, yourself. The beat is fucking bangin', some of the roughest boom bap shit you'll find on this project. This is classic H4ZE here. This is the Darkness At Noon 1 style H4ZE. It's extremely refreshing to hear a song like this on the album... I don't have much to say about it other than what I already have.

9/10

HIGH PRICE

Honestly, I'm not entirely sold on this track (no pun intended). The concept has been done a few times too many, but the lyrics make up for that by being really harsh and gritty. Lyrically, H4ZE is in his zone with tracks like this and Happiness. The boom bap sound is really what best suits him, and even though the overall product is pretty good, it's a shame he never took this sort of sound and ran with it for the duration of the album. I can't really dive into too much detail with these kinds of songs, however, because they are really just short, sweet, self explanatory tracks that don't really require much critique other than the basics. Overall, this track may or may not come off as a placeholder to some, but I'm not entirely sure where I stand with it. The boom bap style beat is what steals the show here, but content wise, I've heard it before so I'm not entirely interested in coming back to this one like I am other tracks... There's not much replay value to it, and to me it's sort of filler to keep the project going. Other than my little nit picks, this is another average track that the casual listener could very well enjoy.

6/10

HAVEN

This is where the turning point for the albums sound starts to take place. The majority remains moody, but the overall sound transitions from older and more dated sounding material to modern trap. The beat to this song is above and beyond cinematic, it's a really enthralling beat that keeps your pulse pounding. That's what trap IS... or at least what it should be (and used to be). Nowadays, that's what is missing. It's lazily done. This track isn't lazily done. The simple recounts of past life experiences over the theatrical beat make this song not only extremely thrilling, but high in replay value as well. 

This track doesn't do that great of a job of making you relate to the artist, but that's actually what is so cool about it. H4ZE recalling times when he's had a gun to his face isn't a plea for sympathy about his rough past, it's an up-in-your-face statement of "yeah, that shit happened to me, but I'm still standing." He isn't trying to pull at your heart strings, he's trying to tell you that he's walked roads that he's now daring you to try. That's fuckin' dope.

8/10

LOVE OF THE HUSTLE

Now reaching the midway point of the project, this is one of H4ZE's best-ever tracks that comes flying right out the gates (rather unexpectedly, I might add), proving a pretty big point of his storytelling abilities.

Let's get this out of the way though: The skit's, alone with the voice acting behind them, are the most cringe worthy things on this album (sorry Skyler lol).

That aside, this is a rather compelling story about the life of the average drug dealer, and it is told near flawlessly. Yes, it's been done before, and that's noted. I think that's the biggest issue with this song... but honestly, it may be the only issue with this song. The beat epitomizes trap music to a T, and it only drives the story that much further. This is a gem. As the halfway mark of the album, it should only get better from here, right? Let's find out.

8.5/10

ALONE

I really don't like this song. Don't get me wrong, the song is GOOD, but on a personal preference level, there's something between the track and myself that has never connected, ever. I'm not entirely sold on the beat. Yes, it really is a beat with a lot of depth and emotion behind it, but I don't think it really does the song justice. With songs like Happiness that share a similar concept, it's hard for me to get behind this track when A) I'm hearing the same story and B) Happiness, among other tracks with this similar idea, are just... better. Not to take away from the potential of this track, there is just something that is not speaking to me as a listener. I can't get into it. This is another track that, if it were me, I would let sit off the album.

5/10

GRAVEYARD

This track is nothing that deep. It is a standard catchy trap tune. But, then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing either. With an album filled with a wavy mix of good and bad, it is refreshing in a sense to catch a break and listen to something simple and catchy. The instrumental is beyond lowkey, something that I could see on a Travis Scott record. Very gloomy and depressing, this beat and H4ZE's dense lyricism make this a mellow sleeper hit that will most likely be (undeservingly) overlooked on this album. Nothing spectacular, but don't take this track for granted. It's enjoyable.

7/10

THE LAND

This track is essentially just a sequel to Graveyard. Bone-chilling and thrilling, this somber trap hit is a relaxing journey for the ear. At this point in the project, we are in full trap mode, and we won't turn back for a while. I can't really find much to say about this, honestly. It's really a striking track, as Graveyard was. I am a big fan of soft and melodic hip hop, and like his boom bap, H4ZE does not fail to deliver. Nothing amazing comes out of this whatsoever, but it is soothing and calm. Who couldn't enjoy that? Don't let this song go unnoticed, folks. 

7.5/10

NEVERLAND

This is essentially just the sequel to the sequel of Graveyard. Within this album, we are also treated to this short little trilogy/collage of moody trap music. After 7 tracks of so-so material, one can't argue that this isn't refreshing at the very least. 

At this point of the review, I can see that it is getting less detail focused. That's solely because the past 3 tracks have ideally sounded the same. What I had to say about Graveyard literally applies to the following 2 songs. Some may say that is a bad thing, and while that's agreeable, it's keeping us on a smoothly paced and well focused effort that the opening 7 tracks weren't. The best tracks of the album are certainly not in this section, but the steadiest of tracks are. THIS is the highlight of the project.

7/10

AMERICA

In one of the weirdest tone shifts of any album I've heard all year, we jump straight to trap back into the rugged ass old school shit. That's not me being critical at all, I really don't see much wrong with it, I just found it sort of funny. That being said, this is exactly what I was talking about with Happiness. H4ZE is in his boom bap area and he is in the fucking zone. The rugged beat is carried to the endzone by the blunt politically conscious lyrics, with H4ZE seemingly channeling his inner Immortal Technique. This throws me all the way back to his first tape, Darkness at Noon 1, in the sense that this song is truthful and honest to the core, with a no-fucks-given attitude bursting in stride. This is the old H4ZE. This is the H4ZE that we don't see much anymore. This is the H4ZE that I've been listening for on this entire project. THIS is H4ZE at his finest. 

8.5/10

I MISS ME 2

Here it is: the closing track. I really don't like this song as the closer, but that's been established. I would have much rather liked Darkness at Noon 3 as the closer, but it's not my album. Honestly, I can't say I like this song too much. Maybe that's just me being critical of myself, because I did produce this beat. As I listen to this over time, I can only hear everything the beat lacks. It sounds very hollow and poorly put together, but H4ZE makes up for that with some pretty solid lyrics all the way through. 

As the closer track, I always feel that you should wrap things up nicely and go out with a bang. After all, the listener DID just sit through 45 minutes of it, so to me, it's necessary to give a proper send off. That's what this song is lacking the most. With the album closing here, it feels incomplete. I take a lot of the blame for that though. I don't put that blame of H4ZE. As the producer, it was my job to help carry this track through with a nice beat, and I don't feel as if I completely delivered to the best of my ability. H4ZE holds up nicely here, but like most of the album, the delivery lacks what it had in DAN2. 

This track ends up being an average ending to the album, but I pin most of that on myself.

6.5/10



Overall, this is not a negative review, but this is not a positive review.

This is a mixed review of an album I felt could have been better than it's predecessor's but ended up falling short. As a whole, H4ZE lacks a strong delivery on a vast majority of a lot of the songs tracks. In my opinion, some songs feel out of place, and for that, the pacing is a bit sloppy... To compensate for this, though,  he does bring a lot to the table. With dense and blunt lyrics over some of the best beats he's ever rapped over, he still makes this project a valiant, worthwhile effort. 

I don't leave this album feeling pissed off or disappointed. I don't leave this album feeling amazed or begging for it to win an award. I leave this album feeling pleased. It is an ENJOYABLE product. 

To the casual listener or the hardcore H4ZE fan, I urge you to give this a listen. This album delivers good music that you shouldn't want to miss out on. 


Thank you for reading this review of H4ZE's mixtape "Darkness at Noon 3"! Listen to the album and let me know how you feel. Do you agree or disagree with my review? Listen for yourself and speak your mind!


Let me know if you enjoyed this as well, and if you would like to see more reviews from me. Until next time.




GRADE: B-
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote H4ZE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 January 2017 at 12:11am
dope review broo. Thanks for reviewing tbe mixtape for real. Ill definitely take this all into consideration when i start my next project. Respect bro!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Lord Puente Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 January 2017 at 12:37am
nice review, ive only heard one or two songs from this myself, so I still need to sit and give it a good listen.
 
regardless tho, props on the detailed review. it was definitely good. enjoyable read, id be interested in seeing more of these
 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Elite Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 January 2017 at 12:38am
thanks guys!
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