MONTREAL RAPPER AND selfproclaimed cryptid Backxwash has released two titanic albums of industrial hip hop infused with musings on identity and religion. She repurposed white rock history on 2020’s sampleheavy debut full-length, God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It, then mastered her own beats on last year’s I Lie Here Buried With My Rings And My Dresses. On this third instalment of a trilogy, all the songtitles are in her native Nyanja with English translation, but her sampling language has expanded to include more liturgical and classical samples, such as Mozart’s Lacrimosa on Vibanda (‘Spirits’). It gives her music a much wider sound than we’ve heard before, taking her fixation on religion to a whole new dimension.
Two images of Black oppression collide on (‘White Person’): Malcolm X’s “Who taught you to hate the(‘Demon’) features unmistakable screams from Pupil Slicer’s Kate Davies. It’s a joy to see two giants of the queer metal scene working together, and the hook hits you in the face every time it’s spat out. Album standout (‘Witchcraft’) features one of Backxwash’s most self-assured verses, even while the chorus is brimming with uncertainty. Featuring Ghais Guevara, it also includes a rickety and varied beat, as does (‘Witch’), where Backxwash holds down its irregular bars with an easy flow.
