Album Review: clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood
Even if the first few clipping. albums could too frequently come off as little more than experiments in auditory sadism, their singular charm remains undeniable even years later. 2013's Midcity and 2014's CLPPNG seemed to take a cynical pleasure in trying to aggravate the listener's ears, luring hip-hop fans in with the promise of expertly delivered verses and then ambushing them with nonsense like letting an incessantly beeping alarm play over an entire track, or closing the latter album with a performance of a minimalist John Cage composition. But after rapper Daveed Diggs' stint in the Broadway run of Hamilton was finished, his return to the world of experimental hip-hop lacked the creativity of clipping.'s earlier releases. 2016's Splendor & Misery was rigidly structured around the intriguing concept of a slave uprising on an intergalactic cargo ship, but failed to provide the stellar verses and intriguing instrumentals needed to generate interest in the record's story. Despite this, the promise of a Halloween-themed, horrorcore-adjacent album from a group whose past efforts already embodied a synthetic sort of terror (followed by a few terrific pre-release singles) was undoubtedly intriguing, to say the least. While There Existed an Addiction to Blood is largely able to effectively realize the potential of its aesthetic, and is certainly more interesting that the group's last record, their trademark blend of experimental noise and lyrical hip-hop has sadly never been clumsier, leaving doubts as to how much further they can take their sound before it becomes tiresome (if it hasn't already).
It's not as if clipping. have entirely lost the ability to craft unorthodox yet compelling material; if more tracks felt as enjoyable and complete as Nothing Is Safe, this album would likely rank among their very best. Diggs' static, monotone delivery actually works to great effect here, paired with a John Carpenter-esque piano line that helps sell the aura of eerie minimalism enveloping much of the song. As he recounts with characteristic poeticism the tale of a police raid on a trap house (incidentally an extended reference to Carpenter's 1976 film Assault On Precinct 13), the spacious synths slowly become more imposing until they eventually come crashing down in an explosion of echoing distortion. The track attempts to regain its earlier tranquility, but the added percussion and Diggs' growing fervor as he spits out "Death is comin' for you, but you already knew that" push everything forward at an uneasy pace. Many of the cuts here are structured similarly, leaving the record to often resemble a series of cinematic vignettes; Story 7 is a grisly tale of lust and bloodlust straight out of an '80s b-horror movie, built around a subdued glitch hop beat. As the vocals stutter and stop in time with the pacing of the narrative, the instrumental eventually degenerates into a sassy club banger as the lyrics become increasingly slick and carnal, before culminating in a gruesome murder in the back of a cab. A 'horrorcore' record this is indeed, even if in the most literal sense.
Unfortunately, the group's attempts to create genuinely horrifying moments almost uniformly fall short (especially compared to past album standouts like the astonishing Story 2), even if Diggs' lyrical wit and ability to command the atmosphere of a track are as sharp as they always are. But while clipping. largely fail to translate their talents into emotionally potent music, they have not completely lost the ability to surprise and frighten the listener; aside from the breathtaking, politically-charged single Blood of the Fang, the sinister Club Down may be the closest they get to inspiring anything resembling legitimate terror. Diggs' rapping, already more laudable for its flow than anything else, here becomes an unrelenting assault of graphic, punchy bars as he details the horrors of inner city life, turning downright fiendish once he gets to the chorus: "It's the city and the city and you only see one/And it all looked pretty when it all begun/But the shit is got to balance on the barrel of a gun". The synthetic stabs driving the production sound off like the chimes of a clock, each time increasing in intensity yet steadily being drowned out by the demonic, swelling screams of Sarah Bernat, filtered just enough to resemble the cries of some unearthly Lovecraftian horror.
Also deserving of praise is La Mala Ordina, a freakish tale of mafia vengeance bolstered by synthetic bass rumbling and classic boom-bap percussion. Diggs dishes out plenty of hilarious bars aimed at Hollywood's portrayal of the mob ("This too real, talking 'bout your life's a movie when the party start/But you ain't picked a genre, lil' bitch that wasn't hardly smart/The script was shit, your third act really drags, the structure falls apart") and leaves his guests to articulate a more authentic version of street life. After their skillfully macabre verses (Benny the Butcher giving a particularly grisly performance), Diggs returns only to have his voice rapidly being obscured by a wall of harsh electronic noise,which eventually swallows his voice entirely and takes over the last two minutes of the track. As painful (literally) as it is to listen to, one can't help but applaud the audacity it takes to end a rap song with a cacophony so foul as to completely befuddle the uninitiated and leave any wayward Hamilton fans questioning their life choices.
While the music on this record will no doubt shock and appall many, in the grand scheme of clipping.’s discography this project is ironically one of their tamer releases, and much less obvious with its more offbeat tendencies. The eccentric innovation present on There Existed an Addiction to Blood, then, is of a subtler variety, an abstract creativity bolstered by Daveed Diggs’ undeniable talent on the mic that nevertheless sacrifices its capacity for enjoyment too frequently to escape criticism. Fortunately (or unfortunately), that is what draws many to clipping. in the first place; the insolent bravery to not just push rap music outside of its comfortable boundaries, but ram it at high speeds into a tenuous affair with noise, sound collage, ambient, and other such subgenres that most hip hop fans would never encounter normally. While their latest work might foretell the decay of clipping.'s ability to remain relevant, for many the group is still able to squeeze enough blood out of their stone so as to make the most unlikely musical amalgamations work. And if there exists a parade of listeners addicted to such a style, then so be it; even if this album is far from their best work, there are certainly worse vices than a record this shamelessly imaginative.
8/10
Favourite Tracks: Nothing Is Safe, Club Down, Blood of the Fang