CT Twenty - Action Man

Industrial rap is a genre that I've been slowly getting into the past couple of years; I can't say that I ever championed the genre but as time passes and things change, so does taste. I think my first real taste of industrial rap was with (aside from Death Grips static music video for 'Guillotine') Nailbreaker's "Spectrum Songs" EP released via record label Vertex. As that act was based in the United Kingdom, it's only fitting that I travel again to the UK to visit another industrial rap project by the name of CT Twenty. The dynamic duo of Jimmery Caine and Victor Gurr have known each other and have been producing music together since they were in their early teens. 2021 sees the release of their debut double titled "Action Man". 



Before I even played the album I looked at the lyrics for both songs and was impressed by the lyrical ability of CT Twenty. They are not the types who repeat their lyrics often; 'Rain on my Parade (Buh Dum)', for example, has around twenty or so stanzas and only three or four lines from any of them repeat throughout the duration of the song. Talk about variation, these guys got it. Lyrics aside, CT Twenty's musical style is industrial pure and true. Hip-hop inspired for sure, but the analog feedback and rough-riding synths are a testament to their musical heritage. Their lines are delivered cleanly and clearly, though there were times (take the one-minute forty-second mark in 'Rain on my Parade (Buh Dum)' for example) where the heavy bass made it difficult to hear the rhymes. I think if they could fix that problem, perhaps by splitting sections of pure industrial instrumentals and lyrical delivery, they could easily circumvent that issue. My only other minor complaint is that with 'Rain on my Parade (Buh Dum)' I really, really found it annoying whenever the beat broke just to hear someone going, "Buh dum, buh dum, buh dum, buh dum, buh dum." Yeah, I know it's in the title, but going from this awesome beat to this drivel was infuriating on multiple listens. 

Other than that, however, CT Twenty's debut is rather solid. Sure, there's a few kinks to work out on 'Rain on my Parade (Buh Dum)', but the title track has all of the positives and none of the negatives that the aforementioned track has. It's a solid debut and one that's worth checking out. Seven-out-of-ten. Well done. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Apr 04 2021