Grayskul

JFK and Onry Ozzborn of Seattle's Oldominion, along with bass player Rob Castro make up the group Grayskul. Their debut album, Deadlivers, mixes melancholy lyrics over moody and sombre beats. The surprise on the album is that not all of their production fits their macabre theme and most of the memorable songs have production that's more similar to the Beatnuts than anything else. The song that seems to shine the most is "Vixen" with its quirky vocal sample that bounces up and down throughout the track, and "Once Upon A Time," which sounds like Psycho Les could have blessed it himself. Others like "Do They Exist," with its haunting vocals and "Prom Quiz," with its catchy chorus stand out and some creative lyrics on "Action Figure of Speach" as well. The album is filled with guests appearances such as Aesop Rock, Cannibus, Abstract Rude, Mr. Lif and Fakts One, which are good choices considering the mood and tone of the album, but they seem to show up on the less notable songs. Overall, the production seems to be working a lot more than the lyrics or flows which are fairly mediocre. Deadlivers is definitely shooting for a particular audience with this release and there is some good stuff on there, but, it has been done before; so blowing the dust off of 6 Feet Deep by the Gravediggaz is probably a better idea.