INSPECTAH DECK, 7L & ESOTERIC / Czarface [2013]

Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck and hip-hop duo 7L & Esoteric join forces to form the superhero inspired  2013 concept album Czarface.
Heavily inspired by the gritty, menacing '90's East Coast sound, Czarface can't be taken seriously with it's large use of cheesy cartoon samples and nerdy comic book references galore.  7L's production is bouncy, clean and shining with confidence whereas Deck & Esoteric's vocals, while good, don't really differentiate from each other from song to song and eventually gets a little too samesy after 6 or 7 tracks.
A solid and fun album with just a few minor quips that shouldn't take away from the listening enjoyment.

3½ activated Wonder Twin powers out of 5

Songs Of Note: Cement 3's [feat. Roc Marciano]; Savagely Attack [feat. Ghostface Killah]

13GHOSTS / The Strangest Colored Lights [2008]

Spacey Americana folk-rockers 13ghosts' 4th full length album, The Strangest Colored Lights is a lyrically brilliant album full of finely crafted ballads about Death.
At times it's solemn but not so much that it puts you into a state of depression. In fact, there a few faster tempo songs placed in just right spots so not to get too emotionally heavy.
Unfortunately, as it is with a lot of Americana folk groups, many of the songs just aren't that memorable in the melodic sense. With that said, I can honestly recommend this album just for a few of the 5 star songs.

3½ Songs sung into a buried jar out of 5

Songs Of Note: Bury Me; Transmissions