Right on time for Halloween, Australian producer/music engineer Timepiece dropped a song today, called “Trilogy of Terror”. Conjuring up a slow-crawling, eerie boom bap beat that shapeshifts with chilling piano keys, ghostly screeches, a haunting theremin, and vocal samples that help illustrate a good horror story. In an attempt to frighten the living, he summons three rap ghouls named Sleep Sinatra, Lord Juco, and Fatboi Sharif, who spill ink like blood in the verses.
Sleep Sinatra steps up first with a cool, laidback delivery, sneaking in boastful messages about self-worth, ambition, and purpose through clever punchlines where he compares himself and his moves the likes of Candyman, Pinhead, and Cujo. Some of my favorite bars that he spits are: “Coming for you if you speak my name like Candyman // Deadly catching Z’s; on me like they zanny fans” and “Ain’t no hoping for the devils when God’s always on schedule // Grind ’til big chains hang like Pinhead, that’s heavy metal // Stay shining like a bezel // Let the muzzle off – I’m snapping like Cujo with the rent due…“
“Smooth criminal, of course he is,” Lord Juco sets up the second verse with a hard attitude, unrolling grimy lines that paint a picture of an apathetic man who just does what he wants, leaving dead bodies in his wake. My favorite bars were at the end: “I came, saw, conquered; Chainsaw Texas // Dead in the rain, conjuring a message // Like Ed and Lorraine, I’m ahead of the game // Play footy with your brain, get your head in the game.” The way it flows was just so good, and the wordplay with The Conjuring reference connected to Ed + Lorraine really grabbed at the horror fanatic in me. Side note: Every time I listen to this song, I laugh when I hear: “Clashing with authority, seniority means nothing // Kids know everything, you bore me (they fucking know already)“. Hahaha, he sounds annoyed when he says the bit in the parenthesis, so it cracks me up.
“Midnight, enter Sandman!” Before the night ends, Fatboi Sharif appears with a deep, menacing voice and when I hear him spitting evil, subliminal messages of horror, it makes me think of a demonic possession, and I’m over here looking for holy water. I love it. While slightly difficult to always hear what he’s saying, I liked the horror references he made to Silence of the Lambs and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. “Nine lives failed the tale, shapeshifter // Fortress spun, holy grail altered son // Overall alerting the black hole sun // Seek assignment from degrees in alignment // Super charged heaven, Astro Creep 2000 // Lambs roasted, grass open, climax // Blood suckin, Bram Stokinnnn‘”.
* Apologies if I got any of the lyrics wrong.
Additional credits go to Timepiece on piano, G. Trigo on bass, M. Walbridge on vibraphone, and Lamb Rabbit on background vocals. It’s a super dope song, so be sure to stream it below, cop it for $1 on Bandcamp, and add it to your Halloween playlists.
PURCHASE
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