Death Grips’ latest LP, Year of the Snitch is perhaps the experimental hip-hop group’s most bizarre album yet.
Their past projects have all had some sort of unifying element: Bottomless Pit (2016) was guitar-heavy, the Steroids EP (2017) was the group’s first foray into electronic music, and disc 1 of The Powers That B (2015) is centered around samples of Björk. Year of the Snitch stands in contrast by being Death Grips’ most eclectic record.
“Black Paint” is an exercise in hard rock. “Streaky” is an electronic pop song that might feel at home on the aforementioned Steroids. “The Fear” is clearly influenced by jazz, while “The Horn Section” seems to feature every conceivable instrument except horns.
Despite the stylistic inconsistency, this is very much a Death Grips album at its core. The 37-minute LP is packed to the brim with abrasive and aggressive songs to hype you up, complete with the most visually disturbing cover art since 2013’s No Love Deep Web‘.
Year of the Snitch is a worthy addition to the band’s singular discography, but it’s also one that may require some time to digest.
Score: 👄👄👄👄/5
Ben is a reviewer and CD collector currently studying Computer Science in NYC. In addition to contributing to Mini Music Critic he runs his own music page, BV Reviews.