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Artists Of The Year
CMU Albums Of The Year 2009: King Cannibal – Let The Night Roar
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 14 December 2009
As we head towards the end of the year, we’ll be revealing, in no particular order, our ten favourite albums of 2009. Today, King Cannibal’s ‘Let The Night Roar’.
“You’ve got about one hour to think about what you’ve done to me”, a voice announces at the start of King Cannibal’s debut album. I’m not exactly sure what it is I’m supposed to have done, but from the sound of the next hour of music, I’m not a very nice person.
Merging influences from drum n bass, dancehall and dubstep, King Cannibal, aka Dylan Richards, operates in similar territory to follow Ninja Tune-signee The Bug. But where The Bug brings in MCs to lament the ills of modern society, Richards goes straight for samples taken from obscure films and video games, and pulls things down to a much darker place.
There are a few collaborations, though. Berlin electronic outfit Jahcoozi, French hip hop duo Face à Face and MC Daddy Freddy all appear, adding further to the album’s varied textures. Daddy Freddy’s shouts, over bass that slices and throbs like a failing heartbeat making a last ditch fear-fuelled attempt at survival, are a particular highlight on ‘Dirt’. Elsewhere, ‘Aragami Style’ sets the tone for the album nicely, while recent single ‘Embrace The Minimum’ acts as a moment of lighter, more ambient tones, converse to ‘Colder Still’, a reworking of early single ‘Call Me Mr Cold Blooded’, which further explores the torture themes often hinted at in other tracks.
All of which makes the album sound like an unpleasant experience, but that’s really not the case. It’s eleven impressively well-crafted tracks that stretch Richards’ influences to their limits in order to take you on a journey that is both cathartic and exciting. It’s nothing as unseemly as a dubstep concept album, but ‘Let The Night Roar’ certainly features one of the most complete sets of tracks you’ll hear on an electronic long player this year.
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