Search - Above the Law :: Cold 187um: Fresh Out the Pen

A welcome return

D. Blair | Chigasaki, Kanagawa Japan | 09/11/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was really excited to see this album come out. One thing that I really liked is that he calls himself Cold 187um and not Big Hutch which is the first indication that he is going back to his roots. If I were to comparet this album to any previous albums he has been involved with then I would say it sounds somewhere around the time that Above the Law made Time Will Reveal. There are many good tracks on this album and the mix with Star Wars on track 17 was quite unique. The most noteable disappointment was sound quality on this album though. I know that he has just gotten out of prison so I imagine it is probably a mix of losing staff, losing equipment, and just being plain old rusty about production after not touching an instrument for 3 years. I would have rated it a 5 if not for sound quality. Cold 187 is a talented man and on this album I couldn't keep up with some of the beats. They were simplistic yet mixed with instruments that didn't seem to mix well like on track 11. I am not saying that it is a bad thing though. I have not felt beats at first many times with Above the Law but then grown to absolutely love them over time and that is the genius of Cold 187. I always feel a new song each time I play the album and it keeps me coming back for more to see if I missed something. There is a definite hardcore theme to this album that hits hard from the beginning and carries through to the end. He is bitter, and it comes through time and time again. To put an end to this review, it is a definite album to get, he had alot of time to write lyrics in the pen and they are tight but I just wished they cleaned up the production on some of the tracks."