Neon Sermon Take You to Church on ”001” (EP Review)
Neon Sermon are a horrorcore trio consisting of BatiBatt, Krux 1 & Lo Key. The latter of whom is most notable for being the leader of the Mission: Infect collective with Bati being his wife & Krux as his latest protege, joining the crew last year. They only have a couple songs under their belt together prior to bringing Bati into the picture couple months back for the lead single coinciding with the news of the trio’s formation & are following it up by dropping their debut EP enlisting former Strange Music in-house producer Seven behind the boards for the entire thing.
After the “Signal Received” intro, the first song “Doomsday Device” is a boom bap/EDM fusion to start off the EP talking about a weapon of mass destruction that has malfunctioned whereas “Beamed Up” dives deeper into electronic territory looking for smoke. “GODZILLA” works in a trap beat to admit they they feel like the King of the Monsters with some speedy flows as well as a freshly chopped & screwed Eminem sample for the hook, but then “Level Up” takes a more abrasive route to declare sermon now being in session.
The song “B.I.A.T.D.A.T.L.M.O.M.F.K. (Bitch I Am The Devil And They Let Me Out My Fuckin’ Kettle)” returns to an EDM-influenced sound comparing themselves to Satan & that they’ve been let loose while the penultimate track “The Sickness” detours into boom bap territory talking about how no one’s ready for this. “You Now Belong to Us” on the other hand sends 001 off with an electronic/trap hybrid asking to step into their spaceship with a melodic hook that I consider to be the best throughout the whole thing.
Lo Key has been known for dabbling with completely different sounds with the most recent example being his nu metal-influenced 13th EP Metanoia last spring or even the last solo album The Eyes of Parasuva taking on a more alt-rock vibe & that’s exactly what he did here with his fellow Neon Sermon brethren. Seven embraces a heavy EDM influence over the course of a good bulk of his instrumentals with KruX turning the chemistry between him & his mentor up to 11.
Score: 8/10