Quantity often supersedes quality in an era where streamed numbers don’t necessarily equate talent. The tactic of pumping out several tracks a week at the expense of production is especially prevalent in the underground community. Entrepreneurial artists want to network through clique-like marketing strategies and fan-dependent behavior for quick success. A rare anomaly to the formula is OmenXIII, an umbral rapper and producer with a notoriously elusive background and gratuitous, independent work ethic. His new album, HACKER, confirms his crafty nature and cunning mind through prophetic tidings and foreboding insight. From poetic soundscapes to grizzly headbangers, OmenXIII coded an earful for those who are not just willing, but able, to listen.
On December 13, 2018, Omen released HACKER to very eager reception. Having recently returned from his Freak Show tour in China following his performance at the Freak Out Halloween warehouse rave in Shenzhen, this would be his year-end gift for old and new fans alike. Modem lights, dark rooms with burning screens, and numerical chaos characterize a lot of HACKER’s tracks, but not all. Songs like “Ink Spills” (prod. kryptik) and “Dancing with Demons” (prod. Levie) are their own art pieces, layered with ethereal, sensory instrumentals and deeply somber lyrics. Little is known about the album’s actual process or development since nine of the 29 tracks were previously released, with little allusion to them being part of a greater project.
Our first unbeknownst glimpse into HACKER came almost a year ago with “Going Through the Motions” (prod. Lidity), ironically now one of the last tracks on the album. It’s unknown whether Omen knew at the time if it would become part of a future project, let alone this specific album. “Cataclysm” (prod. Ghostrage) and “Lately” (prod. Curtis Heron) came a few months later with individual cover art as well. In June, a music video for “Roses, Ashes” (prod. OmenXIII) garnered a lot of attention for its production quality and visual acuity. By “Fifty50” (prod. Leshy), fans began to suspect an eventual mass project. A music video for “Killer” (prod. Ghostrage) followed by “I Feel Dead” (prod. STILL), and “Mayhem” (prod. Grigoryan) were the last month-by-month drops before the album was finally announced with the release of “Trackstar” (prod. STILL) mid-November.
HACKER is a real gift. It’s one hour and four minutes of urbane, feature-free craftsmanship from start to finish, with clever rhythms and cryptic messages that pull you into listening through again and again. The self produced introductory track, “Hacker,” distinguishes the album’s mood behind keyboard clicks and demonic ambiance: “We are all guilty, we are all sinners, we cannot escape evil.” Many lie to themselves about this most basic human truth, but Omen puts it right back in their face. Whether in relation to this or not, a focal tenet of Satanism is accepting that full human potential can only be experienced by indulging in “sinful” sides of life. HACKER is a devil-meets-alien-meets-technology world laden with occult symbolism and mischievous jabs at blindness in conformity.
Most impressive of the hefty album is its song arrangement. The rhythm of one track flows well into the ambiance of the next, making HACKER an enjoyable ride through varied terrain. Omen’s chosen array of producers allows a truly eclectic mix of styles from track to track. This allows rooms for empyrean songs like “There’s a Glitch” (prod. Kodyak) and bass-roaring ones like “Reincarnate” (prod. Na$tii). Each of the 29 contributes to the overall canny yet forlorn energy Omen conveys. A hacker must be quick, deceptive, and intelligent to pull off his deeds anonymously. The stakes are high but the profit is great.
As usual, not much is known about what OmenXIII has in the books next. We do know, however, that he plans to continue to continue on his independent grind and remain as close to his underground roots as possible. Drifting into the mainstream is an eventuality for a lot of artists who start out with a unique edge that gets dulled to appease a wider fan base. But it feels safe to say that OmenXIII’s assets are impenetrable to uniformity. Listen through HACKER for a something consistently different.