Some listeners may be aware of these two brothers out of Melbourne from their freebie drop ‘Mixtaste’, a mix of classic rock anthems with a hip hop twist. The formula remains the same with B Wiv on production and DJ duties whilst Deece picks up the mic again for their official debut EP ‘Ritual Law’.

A straight hip hop release rather than an experimental mix Ritual Law runs in at a quick attack of four tracks. This is a really great sounding EP, the recording is flawless and the beats are loud. These two obviously take a quality approach to this and having the EP mastered by the infamous Jack The Bear shows you how serious their approach is, which is refreshing to see.

From the get go you can instantly tell that B Wiv has his own style and sound. Kind of electro, kind of hardcore, horrorcore, bass heavy but overall a big hip hop heavy sound, that works really well. Deece rides comfortably over this soundscape with his own style of flow and verse structure. His verses are very full with lots of multis and lots of lyrics pumping out in each verse. At times this can mean you miss a line or a word here and there but it makes you listen closely to pick it all up, and listen back to get it if you missed it.

‘Ritual Law’ gives us a view into how Deece’s mind works on the current state of the world and what’s happening around us all. The production on ‘Mercy Me’ is some bassy head nodding shit with an aggressive hook that demands attention.

An almost opposite style is highlighted on ’40 days and 40 fights’ as Deece flexes his vocal range and tells us a deep and personal tale of his battle with Diabetes type 1. A deeply passionate track that goes from past to present and really shows that Deece has a flame for life, that won’t be put out anytime soon. As the track progresses the feelings that are experienced go from sorrow, pity to uplifting and happiness as his drive is highlighted to move on and up, a great track. The final track is ‘B Wiv Deece Meets Maundz’ featuring, um, oh yeah Maundz.

Production is slick as hell with some great samples on the hook and cuts executed perfectly. Deece flows incredibly on this track, relentlessly attacking the beat with an addictive style that encourages neck snapping.

Teamed with another mug from Preston and working well together as Maundz tells how they met and their current working relationship, as to be expected Maundz comes correct with his verse.

Overall the EP is a solid four tracks that offer diversity in both lyrical content and production, which in my opinion is what an EP should do. It highlights the artist’s styles and should make you look forward to a full length, which it does. Deece has a unique mic presence, flow and delivery and B Wiv offers the same with his beats which combined works really well to deliver a solid offering.

Gareth MacDonald

Ritual Law is available now where all good Hip Hop is sold. Or just cut out the middle man and grab a copy from http://www.myspace.com/bwivdeece

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 10:44 am and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.