Music Reviews

So here it is, the brand new Metro Boomin‘ album and just from seeing the feature list on this thing you could already tell it was gonna be a good one. I mean he really pulled all stops with the features for this album and it’s not just name recognition, most of them do actually go really hard aswell.

I’m not really gonna be going in depth on all of these features and songs since there are so many of them and not all of them granted stand out all that much however I will go over some highlights for me whether they were good or bad. You got John Legend on the opening track „On Time“ doing his thing and even I, who isn’t as crazy on John Legend as some other people might be, find his contribution here really charming and a great way to start this album off – also all the swirling strings are just a nice cherry on top. It also just transitions into the next song in like one of the most smooth ways I’ve heard any song this year transition period, it’s so grand and cinematic and just gets your super hyped for what’s about to come. The Homelander sample which yes is a real sentence is somehow also a perfect inclusion to the song, honestly there is very little negative I have to say about this intro. The next song „Superhero (Heroes & Villains)“ is a nice continuation of said sample that right off the back just delivers the pay off the last song was building up to and even though it’s basically a Future song with a really last minute Chris Brown feature thrown in at the last like 30 seconds of the track which doesn’t mash with the rest of the song at all, I still find this to be one of the best songs of the album. The horn sample is so simple yet so effective and Future just sounds so hungry and in his element here, it ticks all the right boxes. „Too Many Nights“ with Don Toliver and Future yet again is definetly the best Don Toliver feature song on this which is kind of a shame since there are a whole 3 of them and I think Don could have overall done better on this project but oh well – still his feature here and this song as a whole is pretty solid, I especially enjoy the really abrassive and chunky bass here, that’s definetly the biggest selling point for me here. „Trance“ with Travis Scott and Young Thug is another intresting one since I think that song easily had like one of the biggest potentials going into it of this entire project with this whole „Maria, I’m Drunk“ vibe the song is clearly going for, however I just feel like the song doesn’t really live up to it’s whole potential all that much – I still like the ethereal kinda other-worldly production and Travis and Yount Thug both do pretty well over it, especially Travis, however there is just such a big portion of the song where nothing really happens and it just comes of a bit empty, maybe a bit more time on the chopping board would have helped with this one. I REALLY enjoy „Creepin“ with The Weeknd and 21 Savage and yeah of course there is my obvious The Weeknd bias playing a bit into that sure, but this genuinely is the best on the album like no contest. I’m honestly not sure which song it is sampling but from what I’ve heard The Weeknd definetly does it justice and yeah, he sounds better than ever on here – his voice just cuts through the entire track like a knife through butter and when the trap beat is replaced by actual live drums? Man at that moment everything in life is just right. 21 is also on here as I mentioned but he does just okay, I could honestly take it or leave it but he doesn’t ruin the song or anything. „Niagra Falls“ with Travis Scott and 21 Savage is another one of my favorites from this album – if it wasn’t for the The Weeknd song this one would have definetly had my favorite melody from the whole album, the piano lick with the strings and Travis’s melodies combined is music to my ears and 21 with his cold-hearted delivery only adds to that enjoyment, they play off of each other super well here. The song is honestly super infectious, it crawls under your skin and just refuses to leave. „Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)“ with 21 Savage (yeah he is on this album a lot if you couldn’t already tell) and Mustafa is probably my favorite just all out banger on this album, 21 is just absolutely merciless over this trademark Metro Boomin‘ bassy piano trap beat, he absolutely steals this track and Mustafa’s outro is honestly really surprising but in like the best way possible, kind of like a calm after the storm – this song is honestly the whole package.

There are obviously more song that I liked than just that (for example „Umbrella“ and „Raindrops (Insane)“) but I’d just be repeating myself talking about those, the only songs I honestly wasn’t all that crazy about were „Lock On Me“ with Travis and Future, that one interlude song that I already forgot, Around Me with Don Toliver which is just okay and perhaps the bonus track with Gunna that also just exists, but other than that, this album is just non-stop fun all killer no filler and a huge improvement on some of Metro Boomin’s earlier output.

-favorite tracks: On Time, Superheroe (Heroes & Villains), Too Many Nights, Umbrella, Raindrops (Insane, Creepin‘, Niagra Falls, Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)

-least favorite tracks: I Can’t Save You (interlude), Lock On Me, Around Me

Strong 7/10