The Darkmonk: True Underlord

The Darkmonk
True Underlord
XIL / Metal Face
2012-03-27

For DOOM protégé the Darkmonk’s solo debut, a lineup of big underground producers brings some solid beats, but the album sinks under the weight of the main rapper’s leaden and completely monotone flows. The guest rappers tend to come as a relief, but it’s not necessarily that their flows are much superior — rather, they actually seem to have any personality at all.

“Text Off da Celly” is one of the highlights, but even then, it’s really for only the atypically-lively beat — deep-voiced men saying sing-songy things like “ring ring bling bling text off my celly” has the potential to be a fun jam like Wu-Tang’s “The Sun”, but the Darkmonk just fails to bring any energy or life to his sleepy verse. “Who is THE DARKMONK? No one knows”, the press release states. True Underlord just doesn’t make a strong enough case for why they should care, either.

RATING 3 / 10