Arkeologists and Unknown Mizery

Unknown Mizery and Arkeologists (aka Norman Krates) have worked together on music as part of Toronto, ON's Poor Man Militia, including a previous album, It Will Fall, with third collaborator and fellow PMM member Logikal Ethix, so their chemistry was already established, as they prove on this effortless collaboration. Every song features vocal samples — usually soulful, sometimes sped-up — as a significant element of the beat, often serving in place of other instruments. Joining the voices are more typical sample choices: "Shilpa Shetty" gets a cool guitar snippet, "Supreme Vishnu" features a funky keyboard loop and "Hitchhiker in Howra" has some melancholy horns. And buried beneath these beat are banging drums that sound like they're being hit extra hard to be heard over everything else. While Krates has his distinct sound, there's an underground East coast vibe to it all, reinforced by the delivery and lyrics of Unknown Mizery, who wouldn't sound out of place alongside the likes of Non-Phixion and Jedi Mind Tricks. His subject matter touches upon conspiracy theories, political injustice, equality for the disenfranchised and poor, and religious references, although in Mizery's case, it stems from his knowledge of Hinduism. My favourite track is "Supreme Vishnu," an extremely funky jam, but all ten songs work well together as a cohesive album, and is a steal at only one dollar from Bandcamp.