The Worst Album of 2019

The award that I thought I’d end up presenting to Chance the Rapper.

That was until I recently came across something that made me cringe harder than listening to a married Chance rap for 80 min without the acid.

This particular band I'm referring to had undeniable talent and promise in their previous work just to be put to waste in their latest. As we know, being let down by someone you believed to have great potential hurts more than getting something bad from another you had no expectations from. I’m talking about Highly Suspect’s MCID.

I feel the need to introduce myself first as a listener. As a rabid music consumer of many genres from different eras, I enjoy being challenged. I’m thrilled when artists switch up their formula in risk of displeasing a chunk of their fan base, just to be able to do something creatively different and hopefully good. I’m explaining this because the most obvious backlash for someone critiquing a rock band or any underground artist who attempts to have a more mainstream appeal is that the listener isn’t open minded/ versatile enough. I am all for an artist's development. With that said, in this industry with a band of this status, change to me is acceptable only if it comes off as a genuine creative decision and not just what is seemingly a cash grab for untapped markets. Can you imagine if Lil Wayne all of a sudden decided to pick up a guitar and make a rock album?! Oh God, I think he actually did that.

The band’s statement upon the release of MCID being "If we’ve alienated you, that’s a good thing.”does not come off as artists confident in their game plan, rather a smug attempt to sound edgy as they sell out with vocal intent. It's like a middle finger to the fan who just happen to dislike their new direction regardless of all their support leading up to.

Look, I'm probably blowing that one statement out of proportion, but I'm highlighting the attitude conveyed promoting MCID of how it's reeking with ego like they believe they’re the first to do something like this. In case Highly Suspect hasn’t been paying attention to their own scene the last couple years, or rock n’ roll in general, they need a newsflash of the countless of Rock/Metal bands who are notorious for their niches to making blatantly pop records.

Not all, but some have been very successful at it! Both commercially and in reception. A recent example is Bring me the Horizon with their latest effort in Amo. From a beloved deathcore band to releasing music in 2019 with touches of electronic EDM breaks, DnB and pop influences with top 40-esque radio friendly hooks.

So why do I prefer it over MCID? Well, it’s because the music in Amo was not only great, but it made sense. It captured how the band also partakes in the other scene's respective cultures and they channel their appreciation of them through the music tastefully.

In Highly Suspect’s case, it feels as if they just discovered rap and electronic music last week and decided they could do it effortlessly. Take for example the collaborations: Amo has hiphop/rnb and Metal juggernauts featured in the album as well as MCID. In Amo, they were used effectively in a way that the song is still in Bring me the Horizon’s territory, while the feature assists to help make the songs more dynamic. In MCID’s case, the random features from the likes of Young Thug, Gojira, Tee Grizzly among others has Highly Suspect mimicking their sound to mesh. The host themselves sounds as if they're the ones being featured on the feature's track! They try to be unpredictable but the results sound forced if not flat out awful. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

To speak more on the music of MCID, asides from cuts like “Upperdrugs” and “Canals”, the rest are either an obvious imitation of their rock idols or just stick out because of their atrocious qualities. “16” sounds like a poor rip off of 21 Pilots despite having the better lyrics from the rest of the cringe fest attempt at being quotable by singer Johnny Stevens as he explores himself as a rapper (That torturous shout out skit in the opening track). Songs like “Tetsuo’s Bike” is a pointless interlude that sounds like an amateur producer just obtained a free crack to Fruity loops and made their 4th instrumental, while “Tokyo Ghoul” plays like a shelved Young Thug single. What's more aggravating is how Both entertain no strong reference to the anime they’re titled from other than to try to vulture Otaku kids. The problem is not only is there zero cohesiveness or direction in MCID, but more so how it tries to please so many different demographic just to be able to put a check mark on the places they can market this album.

MCID is like a person with identity crisis who denies having identity crisis. You listen to them big themselves up about being misunderstood because the rest of us just aren’t on their level, while deep inside you just want to smack them to senses. They want to be cool kids when the cool kids are around, then act like outcasts around actual outcasts. They want to be edgy claiming their music is not for everyone, while creating music that tries to please everyone. If there are any takeaways from MCID is that the 2 songs I mentioned showcased hints of their past brilliance and originality which I hope they recover again. That is, if their ego don’t get in the way.

Verdict: 1.0 out of 5