'Visions of Bodies Being Burned' Review: Clipping's experimental, minimalistic record is a dizzy rollercoaster
What do you expect from a new Clipping record? Abstract, deeply unsettling production that flows under reflective, aggressively in-your-face rap verses that don't let you breathe for a moment. But, all of it, in a strange way, is hauntingly beautiful. And that is exactly what 'Visions of Bodies Being Burned', Clipping's fourth studio album, offers.
Comprising producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes along with rapper Daveed Diggs, Clipping's latest offering is an impressive step further into the expansion of the experimental hip-hop genre that has gained immense traction since the mainstream critical success of bands's like 100 Gecs and Death Grips.
'Visions of Bodies Being Burned', as the title suggests, deals with the inevitability and mysteriousness of death through various prisms. Consisting of 16 tracks, it opens with the track 'Intro'. Ominous sounds of periodic thunder blasts overtake the listener before Diggs' frantic rap kicks in. One thing to note here is that on 'Visions of Bodies Being Burned', the influence of Nine Inch Nails is undeniable.
Passages on almost every track reminds you of NIN's classic sophomore album 'The Downward Spiral'. In the same vein, 'Intro' ends with NIN-esque gnarly distorted noise. The next track, 'Say the Name', starts off with minimalistic beats as Diggs whips dark raps about the birth of a 'devil baby'. It ends with mellow synth sounds mashed with various abstract noises and haywire beats that assault your very being, but in an enjoyable manner.
The whole record, for the most part, is extremely minimalistic and also loaded with pop-cultural references. Like the third track, which is titled '96 Neve Campbell' after the actress who portrayed Sidney Prescott in the slasher film franchise 'Scream'. '96 Neve Campbell' samples the noise of crickets chirping over slowed down trap beats and disorienting production quality; again, in the best way possible.
Disorientation of the listener seems to be Clipping's major aim on 'Visions of Bodies Being Burned', just like it was on their earlier records, and they achieve it flawlessly here.
'Something Underneath', the track that follows, is extremely experimental in nature. Its flow is superfluous as Diggs raps faster here than on any other song on the album. 'Make Them Dead' starts off with an unsettling abrasive screeching noise that runs throughout the track. Gunshot blasts and soft drum beats come in later on as the lyrics get graver and darker.
'She Bad' too is minimalistic, working only with a few elements that all comes together in an appealing manner. By the end, you feel dizzy with all the caustic beats that surround you but, again, in the best way possible.
The next song, 'Pain Everyday', is the best track on the record. Diggs raps about the post-death experience here, "They call it passing thats not it they lying / F**k them altars and headstones / Who they think all them flowers for / Can't smell nothing you just bones / They cry a little less every hour so that must be real nice cross in the earth marks / The end when everything began / Deaths scars looking like birth marks / take for granted they freestanding y'all should." This track, if you pay close attention, is deeply unnerving and is juxtaposed at the end with calming sounds of the violin.
'Check the Lock' is a song about unreasonable paranoia and, with its catchy hook, is the most accessible track on the record. The next track, 'Looking Like Meat', features the hip hop/hardcore punk group Ho99o9 and, hence, sounds even more futuristic with laser noises and its top-notch production. 'Eaten Alive', on the other had, creates a dreary atmosphere with the clinking and clanging of steel plates, pots and pans.
The last three songs – 'Body For The Pile', 'Enlacing' and 'Secret Piece' – feature more disorienting sounds that makes it difficult to understand what's really going on, but, of course, in the best way possible. There are electrical noises, banging of everyday items and chopped trap beats that, somehow, come together in a minimalistic pattern to create a highly corrosive experimental record.
'Visions of Bodies Being Burned' is available worldwide, just on time for Halloween on all streaming platforms starting October 23.