House of Krazees Return to Form Celebrating “31” Years (Album Review)
The House of Krazees are a seminal Detroit, Michigan horrorcore trio consisting of The R.O.C. alongside Mr. Bones & Hektik. Introducing themselves 31 years ago off the strength of their first 2 EPs Home Sweet Home & Home Bound, the next one Outbreed & their full-length debut Season of the Pumpkin back-to-back would later become classics in the early wicked shit scene followed by the sophomore effort Head Trauma until their 1997 disbandment. The R.O.C. would form HaLFBrEEd with Skrapz releasing their debut The Night They Came Home under the H.o.K. moniker in contrast to Mr. Bones & Hektik signing with Psychopathic Records as protégés of the Insane Clown Posse, renaming themselves as Jamie Madrox & Monoxide of the demented duo Twiztid. HaLFBrEEd disbanded in 2000 after kontamiNATION despite that becoming another horrorcore essential & Twiztid released their first 9 albums through the hatchet, departing at the end of 2012 & forming their own label Majik Ninja Entertainment a decade ago already. Kicking off the Halloween festivities, the original lineup of The R.O.C. & Twiztid are returning for their 3rd proper LP.
After the intro, the first song “Sent Here to Take You” perfectly starts us off foreshadowing what’s to come with this aggressive opener detailing their schizophrenic tendencies whereas “Lifeline” take the cold blooded boom bap route instrumental, talking about stabbing muhfuckas. “Into Hell Face 1st” brings a rap rack vibe to the table asking y’all what it’s worth once you reach Hell’s Pit prior to “Mask, Playing Games” drearily getting on the Jason Voorhees tip lyrically.
“Make It Dark” returns to the boom bap bringing the dark to your life discussing if they could stab the entire world just before “Killing Machine” brings a bit of an industrial hip hop vibe to the beat so they can talk about being comatose numb with a mask butcher knife stabbing. “The Slaughter, The Carnage” continues to show the trio’s murderous tendencies leading into “Swim in Your Blood” dusty talking about being addicted to doing exactly that.
As for “Break Skin”, we have the House of Krazees offering a bit of a dark atmosphere instrumentally discussing the possibility of living forever & never dying again biting the cartilage while “Killer Hunter” hopped over more kicks and snares to talk about killin’ ‘em all. “The Basement” pushes towards the final moments of 31 by putting an uncanny spin on the traditional boom bap sound talking about how it’s up to you if that’s where you really wanna die & “Thorn” ends by making sure there’s nothing left off everyone they’re killing. The bonus track “Down the Street” dabbles with trap yelling in the streets in black hoodies & pumpkin masks.
If you ask me, I never really considered The Night They Came Home to be the final House of Krazees album up to this point & more of the unofficial debut album from HaLFBrEEd. That said: their 1st body of work since Head Trauma goes to show the pioneering wicked shit group’s longevity. The R.O.C.’s production takes it back to their roots & it’s the most wicked that I’ve heard Twiztid sound in a while, foreshadowing their upcoming album Welcome to Your Funeral produced by Rob Zombie’s engineer Zeuss by taking it back to where it all started.
Score: 9/10
