The Unveiling

by Invizzibl Men

Anything from Backwoodz Studioz is an automatic purchase with me ever since The Reavers album came out a couple of years ago. When I bought this album, I didn't know much of what to expect - the Invizzibl Men are Karniege, who I'm familiar with from the Reavers projects and the Mighty Joseph album he dropped with Vast Aire earlier in the year, and Marq Spekt, whose work I only know from the odd appearance and mix-tape. Their song 'Jimmy Swagger' had popped onto my radar a few times, and I liked it a lot. It had that standard Backwoodz sound to it, and had clever lyrics.

Unfortunately, the entire album is not as good as it could be. There are some great tracks on here, but about half of the album suffers from uninspired raps and subject matter, and sub-par beats. There are no songs produced by Bond, Dr. Monokrome, or the other usual Backwoodz suspects. The nicest beat is on 'Darkroom', produced by Omega One, who is the only producer on here that I've even heard of.

The strongest songs on the album are the ones with guest appearances. Billy Woods absolutely kills on '52 Lashings', and wisely, the Invizzibl Men stand back and let him do his thing. The lyrical bar also gets raised on 'Zookeeper' by Vordul Mega, and 'T-Rex' by C-Rayz Walz. 'Mightybroady' reunites Mighty Joseph by including Vast Aire, who excells at these types of short appearances. The two songs where the Men do best on their own are 'Thin Air' and 'Stories of a Ghost', but their subject matter is not anything new or unique.