Here is the 8th studio LP from Grand Rapids, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer & Dirtcore Music founder Crossworm. Starting as 1/2 of 2Korpse before branching out on his own for the full-length solo debut Phoenix, this was followed up by a sophomore LP Ready to Burn alongside 2 EPs Mouth Full of Dirt & jaws: Deciduous respectively. Taking a few years off after the latter, he returned in the summer of 2014 by dropping 4 more albums: Parasite Avenue, Drowning in Restricting Thought, Finding X & Eat the Weak. I’ve covered both ANTI & the eponymous Bodies Below Sea Level debut, dropping Cruelty a month after both Dirtwave & Shelter Skelter.
The first song “We Rise, They Fall” after the “Live, Laugh, Lobotomy” intro was an industrial rock opener singing about how every single one of us should be standing tall whereas “You Fucking Lying Bitch” by Bodies Below Sea Level gets back on the industrial horrorcore sound of their self-titled effort last fall. “Warning” maintains the vibes of the previous track except Crossworm’s doing the MCing all by himself until “Bully” by Bodies Below Sea Level lets out some overcrowded angst they can’t keep in anymore.
“Liquify My Dick & Drink It” hops over an industrial beat for 50 second pleading to be left alone with his peace beneath the cold dirt subtly referencing The Beneath the Dirt Podcast in which the Dirtcore CEO produced it’s theme song, but then “Get the Fuck Off My Lawn” featuring Madd Maxxx industrially unites the 2 so they can repeat the same shit until they’re wrong. After the “What Do You Do?” interlude, “You’re Dead to Me” sings over synthesizers with the lyrics airing out some grievances he has leading into the “Vulnerable” interlude AND the “Useless Entitled Cripple” interlude.
Things get minimal for “It’s All My Fault” meshing pianos & an acoustic guitar taking some accountability for himself while “Shatter” featuring J. Reno finds the 2 talking about their squad leaving everyone behind in dust. “Some Call Me the Devil” continued the industrial horrorcore hybrids acknowledging some comparing him to Satan while “I Still Hate” experiments with nu metal feeling loathsome. Lastly, “I Have My Reasons” closes Cruelty with a melodic boom bap joint recalling when he used to feel oblivious.
Eat the Weak was considered to be the most aggressive entry in Crossworm’s whole entire solo career up until this point & over 2 decades since Phoenix, he’s taken it to another level on Cruelty. His production feels like a mix of all the sounds he’s employed during the course of his career from horrorcore to industrial music, nu metal, industrial rock & boom bap bringing half of the artists he’s already signed to his increasingly popular underground hip hop label on board balancing his rapping abilities with his singing chops evenly.
Score: 9/10
