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Injury Reserve looked destined to elevate themselves to alternative hip-hop legend status in the mid to late-2010’s. They had one of the best streaks of releases of any group or artist at the time, rivalling contemporaries like Brockhampton with more than half the members. ‘Live From The Dentist Office’, ‘Floss’, their ‘Drive it Like it’s Stolen’ EP, their self-titled. Take your pick. These guys were dishing out absolute treats left right and centre, and underground hip hop just never seemed to warm to them in the same way as others. I have always thought Injury Reserve were rather overlooked for how consistently good they were. That was until tragedy struck and news broke. Originator, bar extraordinaire Stepa T. Groggs, ⅓ of the group, passed away suddenly in July of 2020, mid-lockdowns. This news took the underground by storm (genuinely no pun intended), and I think turned some new ears onto the trio’s catalogue. As tributes flowed, questions were also asked of their future.
These questions were mostly answered as they began rolling out their 2021 magnum opus ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’. Head-scratching at the time to a lot of average hip hop listeners, yet utterly groundbreaking all the same, and has perhaps aged far better than a lot of detractors might’ve expected at the time. The framework for these songs was a sort of controlled chaos. Every sound was hanging on by the thinnest thread, trying not to be swept away into the abyss. ‘Knees’, with its generous black midi sample, is jerked back and forth by Parker’s harsh chops. ‘Superman That’ as a second single was even more perplexing. What I believe was a Black Country, New Road sample, any semblance of steadiness in the original piece got obliterated into a paste. This direction for Injury Reserve, as a presumed final statement, was striking to say the least. Then it really became “now what?”.
‘My Ghosts Go Ghost’ has been a long time coming. By Storm as a new project was announced almost three years ago now. A handful of singles have dropped in the lead-up to the big dance, as well as a RiTchie solo album to keep fans satiated. Some tracks here date back to 2023 too, if that gives you an idea of how long the wait has been. Was it worth it? Well, if you enjoyed ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’, then this new album should tick enough boxes for you to be pleased. It is as if nothing has really changed from 2021 until now. RiTchie and Parker seem to be in roughly the same creative headspace. Though this time around, there is a decidedly sadder air to the personality of these cuts. These are lengthier jams as well. 5 minute, 6 minute durations make up pretty much the entirety of the tracklist. It gives these two enough time to really hammer the blues home. A lot of these compositions are based around very hypnotic loops, perhaps sometimes a little *too* redundant for a track’s own good. Nevertheless, it pans out more often than not. The choices made by Parker here are very strange, almost dream-like. Like I’m traversing a Salvador Dali painting whilst tripping on a boatload of acid.
This effect shows up particularly on tracks where the melodic elements in the production are so tattered and goopy that they seem almost disconnected from themselves. I would name “Zig Zag” in this group, as well as the billy woods-blessed “Best Interest”. So essentially, when the album isn’t wading its way through murky depression, it’s trying to re-construct and strengthen itself from the embers of said mental valleys. The result ends up being a hypnagogic wreck that is at times difficult to make proper heads-or-tails of, but is very easy to empathise with emotionally. By Storm is 1 for 1 as some might say. It is essentially picking up where they left off with Injury Reserve a handful of years ago, and continuing to push the envelope on what is possible within the historically very strict confines of hip hop music. This can only be a positive.
Dan Will Review 