Spectre Albums (5)
What The Critics Say
Spectre is back with his fourth album of new material, and this time his trademark dark, brooding atmosphere is leavened a bit by more energetic beats and lively interpolations of exotic foreign musical elements. After a pair of brief and unnecessary introductory tracks, Psychic Wars gets down to serious business with "Valour," which nicely fuses a sort of hip-hop/trip-hop beat to North African instrumental samples, to very nice effect. "Rolling Force" takes a similar approach, using sampled orchestral strings. One of the album's highlights is "Secrets," a dubbed-up hip-hop number that benefits greatly from the presence of vocalist Honeychild (heard previously as part of Raz Mesinai's Badawi project) and from the mixing genius of Pere Ubu alumnus Tony Maimone. Things bog down a bit after that; the cameo appearances by Sensational are both less than inspired, but "Remembrance" raises the temperature again. Overall, this album is just further proof that Brooklyn is, indeed, the world capital of experimental and progressive hip-hop and general off-kilter beat wizardry. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Second Coming fuses trip-hop, dub, drum'n'bass, and hip-hop, with guest vocals by Sensational and Mr. Dead. Spectre utilizes a great deal of live instruments to a sinister, atmospheric effect. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Fusing hip-hop mysticism more than worthy of Wu-Tang with an approach to music-making allied to Lee "Scratch" Perry, Spectre's debut album is an excellent entry in the continuing branch of horrorcore rap operating from deep underground the streets of Brooklyn. The beats are solid, the production is basement-level, and the effects are deep, making tracks like "Mayday/Nightstalker" and "Spectre Meets the Psycho Priest in the Temple of Smoke" chilling pieces of hip-hop noir. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
