Mindself & EDBA – THE BURNED OUT SOCIETY (Album Stream)

We’ve experienced a nice number of dope releases by the Bosnian producer EDBA that he put out in the past few years, spanning both the Balkan region. With his authentic boom bap sound, he’s built quite a name for himself, leading to collaborations with a bigger rap names with each new project. Now, the time has come for a new one, and it’s principally different from his previous work.

For starters, forget about his signature boom bapitty crispy snares and uplifting, funked-out vibes. For this occasion EDBA took a different turn in the beat-making process, mainly drawing inspiration from the nü-metal subgenre to create an eerie and haunting atmosphere for the heavily self-reflective and critique-driven topics with which the Austrian rapper Mindself went all out. Don’t expect explosive blast beats in this as it isn’t a rap metal album, but if you’ve ever spent time going through the discography of the likes of Deftones, Coal Chamber, or KoRn, you’ll understand what I mean by the dark vibe this project embodies.

Just like Mindself himself, “THE BURNED OUT SOCIETY” is the result of “isolation, anger, and relentless self-reflection.” He holds nothing back, and what he aims at is the society as a whole. In accordance with the EP’s name, by observing the happenings and people around the globe, he’s come to the same conclusion as many of us: the world ain’t the same anymore as it was in the past few years. Okay, that’s not exactly groundbreaking news, granted, but certain things had to be said as the humankind has truly taken a turn for the worse. A general burnout of the entire society, troubled by financial instability, the rattling of firearms everywhere you look, millions of unnecessary pieces of information on a daily basis, and false values on the Golden Calf level – there’s really a lot Mindself addresses, including his never-ending inner battles.

Considering the state the Austrian-born rapper’s mind it’s not hard to believe that he put a lot of effort into the creation of this project. But, just like the topics that are featured here, Mindself has driven himself to the edge of burnin’ out, thus giving the EP more weight to its already extremely grim atmosphere. Expect nothing but a direct approach, up-to-the-face confrontational style, and pure darkness all around. If you’re looking for something to brighten up your day, I’d say look the other way, bruv.

From the tehnical point of view, the style of writing and flow aren’t exactly the most complex, but does the job. You don’t need complicate things all the time, now do you? Now, where Mindself really stands out is his presence on the mic, with confidence, and how he stands in front of every statement he makes, with a bit loco undertone in the all expressive imagery within the boundaries of the English language.

To sonically support the lyrics, Mindself was looking for an adequate act to bring the project full circle. Eventually, EDBA entered the chat, and his instrumental creativity has truly brought the project to another level. I reckon Mindself was real picky in the process of choosing the right producer for the occasion, but after several listens, I can almost say he couldn’t have chosen better, as the Sarajevo-bred producer really rose up to the challenge.

The idea of nu metal-ish guitars lingering in the back of the beat with various ghostly effects, enriching the menacing vibe of the beats, is really brilliant and exceptionally well-done. It’s like the instrumentals tell a story of their own, let alone with Mindself with all of his might of self-expressionism. That being said, this 9-track-long EP is nothing but a raw, gritty, and unfiltered message of many points, or as Mindself says: “essentially a middle finger to the current evolutionary stage of humanity.”

As for the moment, the album is not available on YouTube, but instead on some of the streaming services and you can find it on there here link.

TRACKLIST:
01 • Intro
02 • The Torture of the Prisons Major
03 • Try Try Die
04 • Freddy V Jason Type Beat
05 • Seventh Day (SKIT)
06 • Burnt Out Eyez
07 • Scary Movies
08 • Grey Dragons (Gojiraz)
09 • Outro