Mr. Dead

I don't know if Mr. Dead or Wordsound would agree, but most simply put, Mr. Dead - and his Metabolics project with Big Pat - is "intelligent horrorcore." It's only sensible that this is true, since Mr. Dead's primary interest outside of hip-hop is his obsession with special effects and horror movie make-up. The Metabolics recipe? A heaping helping of horror, basted with intelligent rhymes, a pinch of humour and a fistful of in-your-face bragadoccio. It mixed well the first time around, with the thankfully odd concoction, The M-Virus. This time around, there's less Big Pat and more unnecessary guest appearances (and why weren't the Hawd Gankstuh Rappuh MCs represented?). On the other hand, Mr. Dead taps some great production connections this time around: Prince Paul (the old school "Dawn of the Dead"), Dan the Automator ("Chemically Imbalanced," featuring Big Pat and Paul Barman), Anti-Pop Consortium's M Sayyid ("Altered States," featuring Herc Boogie), and Scotty Hard ("Spit Somethin'") and Wordsound mastermind Spectre ("Gained Access") both make return engagements. The bulk of the rest of the production is supplied by Bimos (who handled the majority of The M-Virus beats) and newcomer DJ Wood. When the beat mixes with Dead's lyrical chemical, as it does on nearly every track (with the possible exceptions of "End of Days" and "Pleasantries & Subtleties"), the results are explosive. Dawn of the Dead is the second stage in the inevitable take-over of the world by Mr. Dead.