Reviewed by Gareth Hills

To be honest, Ad Apt's debut release took me by surprise. When I first gave it a spin, my impressions for this project from the one time thebandwithnoname emcee tended towards the another-run-of-the-mill-Christian-rap-album end of things. Listening to it on my commute into work this morning though was like listening to it with different ears. The production is absolutely superb, and very creative. Jittering 8-bit chiptune ricochets around chunky beats and some quality sampling and provides the perfect backdrop for Ad Apt's vocal interpretation of a disconnected world and the determination to stay honourable and faithful to God, and to those around him. The opener, probably my least favourite on the album, but a great track nonetheless, deals with the usual questions of "what's this life really about?"; pretty typical stuff, if you were being cynical, but I found that the words really connected with me and challenged me to honestly ponder the same. The second track takes a successful foray into dubstep, which, for a genre dominated by Skrillex and obsessed with "the drop", works very well and manages to get away with a drop that doesn't sound utterly ridiculous. Track three changes pace again, layering rambling 8-bit over some very smooth piano chords, reflecting the track's subject about that disconnected, contradictory, self-deceiving state of mind that many struggle with in this world. Finishing the album is an upbeat track which features some more tasty sampling.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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