Released: 2016

Genres: Experimental Hip-Hop, Industrial Hip-Hop, Digital Hardcore, Rap Rock, Glitch Hop

The Musiquarium’s Bottomless Pit Review Score: 10 out of 10

Coming one year after Death Grips’ double album The Powers That B and continuing on with Jenny Death‘s hardcore rap rock sound (courtesy of Nick Reinhart on the guitar), Bottomless Pit is a chaotic album that should appeal to fans of rap, industrial metal and hardcore punk.

If ADHD was a song, it might be Giving Bad People Good Ideas, an opener that pummels you with rapid-fire machine gun drumming and features female vocals for the first time since Exmilitary (outside of Björk samples, that is); conversely, Hot Head may be autism incarnate. Spikes continues with the onslaught of organized chaos. Warping uses vinyl records as a metaphor.

Eh sees the band chill down a bit from all the noise with a more laidback, synth-driven sound. Bubbles Buried in This Jungle is batshit crazy. BB Poison, Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood and 80808 are all bangers, perfect for driving over the speed limit to (though I am not condoning such behaviour). The title track sounds straight out of Jenny Death, providing a wall of guitar distortion that fucks you in half.

The production here sounds like everything was cranked to 11, Spinal Tap style, like everything is just about to fall apart, but never quite manages to let itself collapse. Bottomless Pit is another masterpiece from one of the most important and influential music groups of the 2010s.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Death Grips on Discogs.

Back to the 2016 Album Guide or the Death Grips Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard