Cassette Review // Magick Show "Dark Night of the Soul" (Hand'Solo Records)

$12 //

Edition of 50 //

https://handsolorecords.bandcamp.com/album/dark-night-of-the-soul

I will always listen to good hip hop and I will always appreciate hearing it on cassette because as a kid I joined Columbia House and my featured selection always came as rap.  "Dark Night of the Soul" opens up with loud screaming and then someone says that God is dead before we go into some just lovely singing.   Rapping comes over the soul of the music.  The first song is the titular track and the hook is: "I was so alone / Going through my dark night of the soul".  I think we've all been there.

"Goetia" is just hip hop and I think of artists like 2 Skinnee J's, Naughty By Nature and Onyx.     It's fast rapping but not mumble rap, which is also something we don't hear enough of these days.   There are record scratches and, rightfully so, a lot of talk about magic and death.  I particularly enjoy the line: "It's all a magic show so do what thou wilt"  I think sometimes we've all felt like life is a dream and what is a magic show but an elaborate dream?  When we wake up, we'll regret the things we didn't do more than the things we did.

As we are told "this EP is just a prequel" the lyrics feel as if they get a bit more evil on "Black Mass".   "Nightmare" is a song about nightmares that could literally give you nightmares.   If you want to know the mindset of this cassette it is something like "Act like you didn't fucking know / we're already in Hell" and I think based on the way the year 2020 went a lot of people would agree with this statement.

Musically, "Dark Night of the Soul" is everything that is right about hip hop.   It has that "Judgment Night" soundtrack thing going on, which I feel like more artists should be exploring.   At the same time, I feel like a lot of what is going on within these songs is channeling the dark arts.   It's refreshing to see something like this in music, as it does feel like the cassette itself could put a curse on you or one of your enemies.    Probably not since the days of when rock n roll first started has music been this real and if enough people listen to this, the masses are going to get scared.