It's been a while since I heard the name but I'm glad I decided to pick up Ill Bill's forth and latest record. Brother of famed New York rapper Necro, Ill Bill has been on my radar for some time, 2008's "Hour Of Reprisal" was the last time I tuned in. "Septagram" is essentially what id expected but far easier to digest and to the point. At twenty seven minutes its a comfortable record of short songs that don't out stay their welcome, dropping a better selection of rhymes over samples and drum loop beats that don't have a lot of variation beside a generalized theme drawn together with audio snippets from some obscure horror movie featuring some form of evil villan.
Much like his brother Necro, Ill Bill's style revolves heavily around horror, violence, torture and gore. These guys are tapped into the same sort of subject matter you might hear in Extreme Metal music and that may be because these guys are also metalheads too, many of the lyrics drop references to Metal bands and musicians. With subjects along the lines of serial killers, Satan, murder and evil for fun its an entertaining listen if that's your thing. I like it but there isn't a lot of depth here. There's plenty of skin crawling lyricism and brutal lines with vivid descriptions but they rarely add up to much. "The Cycle" touches on a social conscious observation but the song is mostly led by Ill Bill's guests William Cooper & Trife Diesel. The beat behind this track is skeletal, not a lot of polish on the beat and to transition to its string section samples the audio cuts of completely. Not a complaint but an observation, for some reason it works pretty well. Ill Bill's energy and flow is lively and forceful as expected but a lot of the work falls on his guests who make up a large portion of the airtime. His guest Slane on the final track sounds and spits like a mid naughties Eminem, the similarity is uncanny.
None of tracks here particularly stick out, it generally flows with the same intensity and each beat brings a different flavor in a played out style that sounds like it could of been produced ten years ago. You'll have a better time with it if you like their Horror Rap niche but breaking it down its a pretty tame release from a rapper who's capable of much better.
Rating: 5/10