Last year around this time, horrorcore was a hot topic of discussion within the indie press. You can never be entirely certain as to why something becomes the topic de jure for critics, but I suspect it had something to do with the hype and build-up surrounding clipping.'s album and the unexpected success of BackxWash as both artist and icon. Neither of these artists are actually horrorcore in any real sense, but they're both highly inspired by its aesthetics and morbid preoccupations. As influential as horrorcore is in the history of contemporary hip hop, it's pretty rare to find someone attempting any kind of a true reanimation and revival. That's perfectly alright, though. Homage is not always flattering to its subject and if contemporary artists are content to extol the genre's legacy rather than attempt to exhume it, that may be for the best. Sometimes dead is better, as Jud Crandall once said.
Shifting to a discussion of live genres, one area of hip hop that seems underexamined in its tonal parallels to horrorcore is dungeon rap. If you're aware of the concept of dungeon synth, then you're well on your way to understanding what dungeon rap is all about. Dark, cryptic, synth-heavy and atmospheric hip hop production with a fatal fascination with horror and the arcane. I've been diving into this stuff quite a bit lately and one album in particular that I've grown fond of is DJ Naxxramas's Frozen Bones. The producer takes his name from an early World of Warcraft campaign where player/adventurers travel to a floating necropolis to do battle with a diabolical and vengeful litch named Kel'Thuzad. However, what grabbed me about the EP was not its cultural references but the strong sense of sinister melody that Naxxramas exhibits and his ability to give the cold heart of his work an unnerving and undead pulse.
I can almost feel the cold syrupy dampness of the coagulated blood sloshing around the chambers of the opener and title track. "Frozen Bones" establishes a sense of foreboding and deadly intrigue, which is delivered in fits of icy, simmering, and phantasmal fury throughout the rest of the album. The mixed under and watery flow of the vocals and the dreary slosh of the beats on "Rotten Coffin Of A Vampire" is as good of a translation of horrorcore motifs as you are likely to locate in this day and age without falling into the trap of being hopelessly derivative.
The cacophonous and ominous "Castle Rustle With Ghosts" is next, with murky, affected vocals and a flow submerged in shivering dark piano grooves that resemble the cold, wet panic of waking up a disturbing dream, accompanied by a beat that alarmingly alludes to the sensation of being stalked by someone you can never quite see but whom you still know is constantly stepping upon your shadow with nefarious intent. "Witch Dungeon" takes many of the nightmarish qualities of its predecessor and stacks them menacing in a latter of twisted rhythms, one on top of another, in a grim drive to rebuild the Tower of Babel, pierce the heavens, and perform an unanesthetized glossectomy on St. Peter.
"Asylum" shifts interests to chasing ghosts and wayward spirits through corridors of shattered glass and uncanny reflections, leading to the brooding scrape and warp of "1997." Finally, Naxxramas puts the final nail in the coffin of Frozen Bones with the glitched-out and jittery, haunted game cartridge soundtrack "Casio." I really felt this one and found it very effective and full of chilling material, with def beats inspired by the encroaching shrowd of death itself.
