If the name Blue Sky Black Death tells you anything, it might be for what the Hip Hop production team has done with a few Wu-Tang Clan associates including Hell Razah (on “Razah’s Ladder”). But this album is not even close to having a regular Hip Hop vibe. This is in fact something completely different and even though some might categorize this piece of work as Trip Hop or instrumental Hip Hop, the sound throughout this album comes closer to some kind of electronic opera effort if anything. I once read a review that stated; “Think Beethoven with a sampler and drum machine” and I thought that summed it up pretty well. Wait till the sun has gone down, sit back, relax, put this disc on and just fly away into the “Late Night Cinema” experience.

Now let me try to explain a thing before I get all technical. This is an experience. This will be far from anything else you’ve heard and the closest you might get, would be a blend of the amazing way DJ Shadow builds up his songs, the spacey feel of RJD2’s work and sample turning power of J Dilla. Simply put this album takes you through some of the most amazing twists and turns Hip Hop can deliver through beats.
While being 100% instrumental with only a few backing vocals, we ironically enough start out with a song called “The Era When We Sang”. Being a perfect way to set things off, we are kicked in with a fast hitting snare drum and with beautiful strings accompanied; it sets the sound for the next 10 tracks to come. The song then evolves into an orchestral sound blast, and that’s really a feeling you’ll keep throughout the disc.

The red line of the album is the dark and gloomy sound. From the cover art, with the black/white shot palms blowing in the storm on the yellowish background, to the execution of every single track with very pale vocals and hard hitting drums. During the recording sessions of this album the production duo, which consist of Kingston and Young God, had a dozen of violinists, vocalist and even an organist to create the feeling of a perfectl storm. And that’s exactly how this album feels like – like a storm that has raged for weeks and with only very little calmness in between. The storm is building up during “The Era When We Sang”, “Lord of Our Vice” and “Ghosts Among Men” being at is top on “A Private Death” and then goes into the eye of the storm on “Shoot You Dead” and “Listen Child”. Slowly the storm takes turns again on the most incredible track “My Work Will Be Done” but soon settles down again steadily on the next few numbers. On “All the News Is Bad Again” we begin to see the destruction that the storm has caused on its path, but along with the entire rampage, the sun is shining down through the cloudy skies and the optimism starts to flow again on the absolutely gorgeous ending on “Legacy to Fuel”.

Ranging over 11 tracks, you never fail to get bored, and as the title indicates – it’s like going to the cinema, you surely are getting the feeling that you’re being told a story through the music. Every song is around the 5 minute mark, but it never falls into a monotonous sound and the same breath of wind never comes twice. This is definitely one of the best instrumental albums released in the past decade. Incredibly unique as it may be, and while reminiscing of DJ Shadow’s first release, “Late Night Cinema” takes a stand in Trip Hop like “Endtroducing….” did in 1996, and will be looked upon years from now as one of the finest crafted albums in the genre. A true Hip Hop opera – of biblical proportions.

by Oskar