Dälek - Gutter Tactics
Genre: Alternative Hip-hop
Rating: 4/5

If you’ve never listened to Dälek, it’s a sound that’s hard to put into words. As  puzzling as the equation “Public Enemy + My Bloody Valentine = Dälek” is, there’s really no better way to describe it. Shoegaze-esque layers of heavy heavy, distorted sounds provide a dark, atmospheric stage for MC Dälek’s aggressive, socially-conscious lyrics which subtly sneak into the mix. They stand out not for their volume, which is extremely low compared to the rest of the genre, but for the driving force of MC Dälek’s delivery.

Gutter Tactics as an album is fairly straightforward, thriving on the dense, heavy sound all the way through. The hefty industrial sounds that come blaring from your speakers (or headphones) remain different enough from each other to keep things sonically interesting throughout, while different enough from their source material that it’s nearly indecipherable. The lyrics remain serious through every line, with nearly every word advancing what MC Dälek feels is a pressing issue.

While no song veers off toward a more mainstream sound or a more bare-bones structure to show off MC Dälek’s chops, there’s enough variety on the album to keep it from going stale. Tracks like No Question and Gutter Tactics are hard and forceful, while Who Medgar Evers Was… and 2012 (The Pillage) exude a more slow, churning heaviness that naturally grows more powerful as it moves on.

For people into noisy, artsy music, or hip hop fans looking for something that does things differently, Dälek’s Gutter Tactics is a solid offering.

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