Will C. – Omega Supreme Soundwave (Album Review)

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On the impressively titled Omega Supreme Soundwave, Will C. returns to the mic after a near two-year absence with the full connotation of the title embedded in his intent. This is end-game rap for all dull emcees in his sight. Will isn’t so much pressing the reset button on them as he is dropping a diving elbow on it, a move he may well have learnt from watching “Macho Man talking to Arsenio” as he documents on the opening track ‘Locate Zero’. Here, all rap measurement devices are set to tare, numbers are wiped off the board, and new levels are defined for emcee performance metrics. Okay, that’s probably a little hyperbolic, but the self-assertive spirit of the track is along those lines and it succeeds in setting the energetic, unwavering pace of the album.

For the sharp knives in the drawer, the force of Ced Gee is detectably strong as Will C. brings your dreams to reality, that is if your dreams are a collage of 80s-era production sensibilities and athletic rhymes. And you’d expect nothing less from a scholarly curator and champion of the genre’s “Golden Era”. Check the video for the titular ‘Omega Supreme Soundwave’ for instance (click image, above right), which looks like an old-school junkie’s daydream fed through a VTR in an omega-wrap. Wait, omega-…rap? A coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Will C.’s the kinda guy who might just craft that level of brain-imploding complexity into his art.

Lyrically, Will C. is as adept as ever. The rhymes are both rich and concise, like dense pseudo-haikus. This might make them inaccessible and hard to unpack at first but it guarantees replay value. At times, the syllable-play fuelling his meter alone reaches speeds fast enough to send your mind through a quantum rift of some description which, incidentally, is a location Will C. sounds like he is recording from at times with the vocal effects applied. It all adds to the trippy aesthetic and almost seems to transform his voice into an extension of the music itself; ghost in the machine type shit.

Omega Supreme Soundwave is an album for those looking for something a little idiosyncratic, something expressionistic but still tough on the beats and rhymes, and its out now on Double You Productions. Peruse the collection of promo art below while you listen for extra credit.