Anarchic duo Ho99o9 are more focussed and exacting than ever on explosive and surprisingly personal third album, Tomorrow We Escape.
Confrontation is in Ho99o9’s DNA. It’s in their iconoclastic clash of combat rap, hardcore punk and gonzo industrial menace. It’s in their verbal takedowns of racism, police brutality, economic oppression and more. Even as childhood friends TheOGM and Yeti Bones put up a united front, you sense neither one would hesitate to call out the other if their shit stinks. Yet on third album proper, Tomorrow We Escape, Ho99o9 also turn that burning scope on themselves.
Escape morphs from a Ministry-esque industrial assault into an anthemic punk banger as Yeti Bones spills his guts (perhaps literally). ‘I can’t feel my face anymore / Leave my heart spilled on the fucking floor.’ By contrast, on Psychic Jumper they pair survivor guilt with dissociated synths and falsetto crooning that is simultaneously soulful and chilling. ‘Can’t keep my mind silent, managed to escape still living wit’ the trauma,’ TheOGM drawls over a novocaine numb beat, gently descending in a downward spiral that only gets uglier on Upside Down.
The rogue’s gallery of guests here also act as effective foils to the anarchic duo, reflecting and amplifying their volatile energy. Nova Twins, Pink Siifu and Yung Skrrt propel Incline into Prodigy territory, an insurrectionary rave of riot-shield clattering beats that invokes Black Panthers Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Tipping Greg Puciato to push Tapeworm’s adrenalised hardcore into overdrive is a no brainer, but Chelsea Wolfe’s ethereal vocals cut through the gloom of Immortal to haunting effect as Yeti Bones glimpses a way out of the mire: ‘It’s time to grow, time to strive, free your soul.’
A new generation of genre-smashing bands have come up in Ho99o9’s wake, yet the moment they think they’ve caught up they’ll find that the gruesome twosome have already moved on to new ground. As their most mature and focussed album yet, Tomorrow We Escape shows Ho99o9 can go the distance to rage on and burn bright well into the future.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Death Grips, The Prodigy, Mimi Barks
Tomorrow We Escape is out now via 999 Deathkult / Lost Gang
