Indie rapper Abrax Phaeton breaks his 3-year album hiatus with his new project ODD TEMPTATIONS, a 13 body of work that goes above and beyond the norm with it’s exciting and experimental soundscapes. Versatile and nonconforming rhyme styles and overall unpredictable approach.
“Chronicles Of Savagery” is the opening track and it’s beautifully crafted with its cinematic score and sound design that draws listeners into the mix. Abrax is in his bag here with his no holds barred bravado bars that range from flexing on the opposition to managing his own demons and breaking the rules to achieve his goals. This is followed by the glitchy “WhatTheHellDidYouTurnOn!”, a fast-paced electronic jersey club dance-infused track that completely goes 180. Abrax employs a machine gun triple time flow ripe with complex internal rhyme schemes and vivid imagery that gives listeners a glimpse of what is on his mind and trust me it’s wild beyond your imagination. The experimental sound continues on “DONT MAKE EYE CONTACT”, a rousing track that has a driving distorted bassline and stomping drums. Here, Abrax flexes his verbal biceps with darts like “Grown men with some poor dreams with low budget and poor schemes/ Talking reckless get you stuck with open wounds in the surgery/Feeling salty in my wave, hope you drown when it’s curving“. “Outlandish Billionaire Mindset” has a similar feel to the previous track albeit with more tamed distorted sounds and here we get more of Abrax’s unfiltered and unhinged bravado bars.
“KRAY…REAL…COOL In Phaetonvania” and “AboutUUUU” take the project into another realm with their electronic, dark pop aesthetics and non-conformist sounds that would normally sound out of place on a hip-hop project. The former starts off with a cartoony synth and transitions into a punchy drill bass-laden beat where Abrax delivers a laidback flow and a memorable hook to match. The latter is a dreamy off-beat lofi/chill hop track that has a lot of ebbs and flows that are just perfect for Abrax’s heartfelt lyrics about love, lust and the intersectionality between him and an unknown lady.
“GIMMETHATPHONK” lives up to its title with hard-hitting Phonk grooves, resounding synths and pronounced cowbells and percussions while “WealthyWoman” is a laidback and nostalgia-inducing beat made up of dreamy textures and dives into the concept that bridges love and money and how he balances these two distinct things. The project closes out with the solemn “CHECK” and “AVERAGE”, the former sees Abrax in a contemplative and introspective mood as he manages his inner demons and tries to correct his errors. The latter makes use of a classic Madlib soundscape and we see the rapper sharing a vivid storytelling that drops listeners in the mix of things with his engaging rhyme schemes and pop culture references.
Overall, in just 35 minutes Abrax brings quite a lot to the forefront with his avant-garde style of hiphop and his willingness to stretch his imagination and vision for the art.
Keep up with Abrax Phaeton | Soundcloud: Facebook: Spotify: Instagram