The Powers That B
by Death Grips

For a while, The Money Store was Death Grips' best album. But The Powers That B (TPTB) is really contending for that spot. It's a bit of an unfair competition considering the fact that TPTB's two sides give it great variety.
One really interesting pointer is that both sides feature someone who has not directly worked with the band before. On the first part, Niggas on the Moon (NOTM) it's Icelandic singer Bjork. On the second half, Jenny Death (JD) it's guitarist Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos. While all the songs on NOTM feature Bjork's vocals (in fact, it features none of Flatlander's abrasive synths. Replacing that is Bjork's heavily edited vocals), only tracks 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 feature Nick's guitar.
NOTM is another foray into the experimental side of Death Grips, more or less continuing on from the path they took starting from No Love Deep Web. While not nearly as abrasive and in-your-face as, say, Exmilitary and The Money Store, NOTM is still an entertaining listen, with Zach really pulling of some great drumming in each of the 8 tracks. However, NOTM's variety is, unfortunately, a bit too homogenous. Each track sounds very similar to the last, and none of them have MC Ride's infamous yelled vocals (although several songs hint at it). To put simply, all the songs are far softer and less abrasive. Instead a lot of the real content is in the lyrics, which thankfully are far more understandable due to MC Ride not shouting (this may possibly be the explanation for the lack of his shouted vocals). The songs' themes range from racism (Black Quarterback, Say Hey Kid) and paranoia (Up My Sleeves) to the lifelessness of modern sex (Billy Not Really, Have a Sad Cum, Fuck Me Out) and the idolization of celebrities (Voila). Either way the lyrical content on here is, as always, cryptic but has some sort of meaning behind it.
JD, the much hyped second half, is quite literally the culmination of everything they've done. From the extremely loud, harsh and unforgiving I Break Mirrors With My Face in the United States to the almost ballad-like instrumentation of On GP (which stands for On General Principle by the way. It has absolutely nothing to do with their previous album Government Plates), this side has far more variety and content than the 32 minute NOTM (JD is 50 minutes, in comparison). It opens with the I Break Mirrors With My Face in the United States, which as I described earlier, is extremely loud, harsh and unforgiving. It features MC Ride's infamous yelled vocals, something which was completely absent from NOTM. The track is so quickly paced and short that despite how much there is going on, it goes by in a flash, as if it never happened. Then we get Inanimate Sensation, which is probably the most progressive song Death Grips has ever written. Although following the old "verse-chorus-verse" structure, each verse is drastically different from the other. The track opens with a chorus of voices ascending pitch. It's quite difficult to explain, really. The first verse is your average Death Grips verse, opening with the line "IN-ANIMATE SEN-SUH-A-TION", in MC Rides typical yelled rapping style. Then we get the chorus "BLOWNOUT, BASE", which leads to the second verse, which is rapped entirely in MC Ride's whispering voice, with the exception of the line "I'M NOT WITH YOU". Then we have the chorus again, and we move on to the third verse, which is rapped entirely with MC Ride's shouted vocals pitch shifted down. The third chorus continues with these pitch shifted vocals, and we have the fourth verse, where MC Ride makes multiple references to classic rock and popular music in general. Then we have the chorus again, and we have a miniature fifth verse which is quite similar to the first verse. And then we finally end with the chorus. Either way the entire 6 minute experience is extremely thrilling. The next song is Turned Off, which really does sound like a nu metal piece. Thankfully, it isn't terrible, in fact it's one of the best songs on the album. Then we have Why a Bitch Gotta Lie?, which follows the same nu metal style that Turned Off had. Although this song is less accessible than Turned Off due to the strange digital manipulation on MC Ride's vocals, it's actually pretty good once you get used to it. Then Pss Pss plays, a song about the lifelessness of sex. This song, quite interestingly, also references Have a Sad Cum early on. After that we get the title track, which is easily the loudest, sludgiest, heaviest, and most brutal thing Death Grips has ever put out. It's quite the experience, and really is quite indescribable. Then it's Beyond Alive, which would probably be my least favorite track on here if not for the final track (I'll get to that one later). It retains the nu metal style from tracks 3 and 4 but simply does not have the same magic that the aforementioned tracks have. Then we have Centuries of Damn, which, while good, has nothing too special about it to make it stand out. After this we have On GP, which in my opinion is one of the best tracks on JD as a whole, alongside Inanimate Sensation. Nick's guitar is extremely prominent on this track, and he really adds on to Flatlander's sound. It's also probably the closest Death Grips will be to a ballad or anything of the sort. The track glitches into the final (and most disappointing) track, Death Grips 2.0. From its name you'd expect some sort of amazing and revolutionary piece that will mark a complete change in Death Grips' style. But unfortunately, it isn't. It's just a repetitive instrumental track which was stretched out for way too long.
Either way, the LP is abso-fucking-lutely phenomenal, perhaps even better than 2012's critically acclaimed The Money Store. Only time will tell if Death Grips can continue their streak of amazing albums.

I think it's strange that a lot of people disliked niggas on the moon but like the powers that b
I always reallly enjoyed disc 1 though so I'm glad more people are coming around

This is like a compilation of the two most intense Death Grips albums. Death Grips got a near-perfect discography every work of theirs is perfect in itself. Jenny Death is my second favorite Death Grips album after The Money Store

My biggest problem with Death Grips is the fact that none of their albums were even close to hitting the incredible high that is The Money Store. This album proved me wrong. Honestly it might be even better then The Money Store. Good work Death Grips! You get two thumbs up from the Bean.

From Fishmans 03/20/2015 00:04 | #137346 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Definitely Death Grip's best album.