Admiral Crumple

The rapper you love to hate returns with his eighth solo album in as many years, once again building on the improvements of the last album, which built on the one before that and so on. The sound quality of Netherworld is his best so far even while continuing to maintain the gritty, lo-fi vibe that the Crumpster is all about. Primarily self-produced, the dark, horrorcore-influenced beats are a definite highlight, giving it the atmosphere of old school Necro or Cage, the latter even appearing as the superstar guest for this album. Crumple’s lyrics, often emphasizing drugs, violence and sex, certainly reinforce the tone, although they’re often just the setting for a positive message. And they can be quite intelligent if you’re willing to look past his monotone, nasal flow and his somewhat basic cover art. With most aspects of the creation handled himself, Netherworld, like all of his previous work, is unabashedly Admiral Crumple. While the whole package could be improved with outside assistance, for good or ill, you sort of have to admire someone putting themselves out there like that, right?