MUSIC REVIEWS
Cage - Hell's Winter
Seth Saltzman
It's been a long time since Cage has graced the public with a brand new full-length LP. After finding public success with "Movies for the Blind" a few years ago, Cage also managed to find private life depression. Now, a new man, Cage has brought about his most well-rounded album to date, "Hell's Winter".
Beginning wit the first track "Good Morning," an ode to the diversity of New York City, you can tell Cage's head is in a clearer state of mind.
With much less incoherent randomness, Cage tells a complete story without going off base in "Too Heavy for Cherubs," which captures Cage's upbringing in a house filled with heroine, uncaring parents, and violence.
The most melodic song on the album is without a doubt "Shoot Frank." (Expect a music video for the song soon). "No noose is long enough to hang my excuses/whether I'm dead, gun to my head, or reclusive," Cage spits over the smooth piano keys of RJD2, which is a nice break from the mostly El-P produced album.
Songs like "The Subtle Art of the Breakup Song" and "Scenester" both bring out Cage's "softer" side in his women-dedicated lyrics. Cage raps in "Scenester," "My head down walking through a do or die world/'Course I get hooked on a suicide girl."
The Weathermen were a nice feature on "Left it to us" and gives Weathermen fans a glimmer of hope that there might be a new Weathermen CD in the near future. Aesop Rock spits his metaphoric ridiculousness while Cage and the rest of the Weathermen do their thing.
Politics also play a part in "Hell's Winter." In "Grand Ol Party Crash," Cage professes "If the opposite of a pro is a con then look beyond this/The opposite of congress must be progress."
With a wide range of topics covered and a fresh new way of expressing himself, Cage scores huge with this album. Although some of the incoherencies are missed and the deranged, drug filled and depression induced songs are some of Cage's known classics, I'll take a well-rounded album over a few good tracks on a disc any day.
