Mach-Hommy - Balens Cho (Hot Candles) ALBUM REVIEW
Y’all have to keep me up to date on these surprise drops, I’ve been busy these past few days.
Mach-Hommy is a bit of an enigma. Even after what’s considered his highest-profile drop and highest commercially successful project yet in the form of Pray for Haiti earlier this year, he’s still miraculously kept an extremely low profile. The verses he contributed to Westside Gunn’s sprawling Hitler Wears Hermes 8 were top-of-the-line Mach, and even though he’s gone as far as dropping a whopping nine projects in a calendar year, I didn’t expect to hear any new solo material from him any time soon. I guess he proved me wrong with the surprise release of Balens Cho (Hot Candles), so let’s not waste any more time and get into it.
Like on Pray for Haiti, there are many nods to Mach’s own Haitian culture in the form of 50 seconds worth of interludes, and even if Mach’s lyrics aren’t as coded as his older projects, you cannot deny how well-versed he is. ‘Chain snatching to DMCA, either way your link gone’ is a stone-cold stunner of a line and would make any career, but Mach has been writing at this quality for a while now. Even getting Sam Gendel of Clown Core for a saxophone solo on “Wooden Nickels,” which I consider to be one of Mach’s best written songs of his career so far, isn’t that far of a stretch for him. The production here is also fantastic. Mainly handled by Nicholas Craven but also includes beats from Conductor Williams, Ras G, Fortes, and Messiah Musik, this is probably one of Mach’s best set of beats for an album yet too. Overall, Balens Cho (Hot Candles) is yet another hit for the New Jersey rapper. Mach-Hommy’s impressive lyricism goes toe-to-toe with some of the best production for a rap album this year.
9/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Balens Cho (Hot Candles) is self-released.
Mach-Hommy is a bit of an enigma. Even after what’s considered his highest-profile drop and highest commercially successful project yet in the form of Pray for Haiti earlier this year, he’s still miraculously kept an extremely low profile. The verses he contributed to Westside Gunn’s sprawling Hitler Wears Hermes 8 were top-of-the-line Mach, and even though he’s gone as far as dropping a whopping nine projects in a calendar year, I didn’t expect to hear any new solo material from him any time soon. I guess he proved me wrong with the surprise release of Balens Cho (Hot Candles), so let’s not waste any more time and get into it.
Like on Pray for Haiti, there are many nods to Mach’s own Haitian culture in the form of 50 seconds worth of interludes, and even if Mach’s lyrics aren’t as coded as his older projects, you cannot deny how well-versed he is. ‘Chain snatching to DMCA, either way your link gone’ is a stone-cold stunner of a line and would make any career, but Mach has been writing at this quality for a while now. Even getting Sam Gendel of Clown Core for a saxophone solo on “Wooden Nickels,” which I consider to be one of Mach’s best written songs of his career so far, isn’t that far of a stretch for him. The production here is also fantastic. Mainly handled by Nicholas Craven but also includes beats from Conductor Williams, Ras G, Fortes, and Messiah Musik, this is probably one of Mach’s best set of beats for an album yet too. Overall, Balens Cho (Hot Candles) is yet another hit for the New Jersey rapper. Mach-Hommy’s impressive lyricism goes toe-to-toe with some of the best production for a rap album this year.
9/10
Listen here
YouTube Music
Balens Cho (Hot Candles) is self-released.
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