Even Heathens is a horrorcore duo consisting of Pennsylvania emcee ILLtemper & Detroit veteran King Gordy. Forming in 2021 off an eponymous full-length debut & the Horrorcore Stories EP, they would go on to put out a sophomore effort Unpleasant Never Dies & the Odd Gods trilogy until forming the Wic Kids with Donnie Menace & Grewsum respectively last summer. Signing to Lyrikal Snuff Productionz a few months ago for a 2-album deal, the Heathens are ready to make their debut for the label.
The first song “Dig” produced by J. Reno after the intro made for a cavernously dark opener talking about not finding what you were hoping for going deep in their minds whereas the guitar/trap crossover “Canceled” addresses the topic of cancel culture, which Cormega called an abused power & he wasn’t wrong. Stir Crazy reunites with the Heavens for a rap rock sequel to “King” bringing that horror music to your speakers while “Choices” talks about choosing 1 of 6,000,000 ways to die.
Insane Poetry joins ILLtemper & Gordy on “You Think?” as a way of responding to those speculate they’re crazy over a boom bap instrumental with some vibraphones just before “Can’t Hide” replaces the vibraphones with pianos to talk about them being unavoidable. “Fear Us” blends boom bap & horrorcore lyricism together explaining why they should be feared while “Grime” featuring Nasaan & Seuss Mace finds the quartet cautioning not to disturb them.
After the shock value “Coby Gets Raped” skit, “Tu Weered” featuring Killator gets the trio together for a trap joint talking about how they’re uncomfortable to be around & the closing track “Lot Lizards” closes the Even Heathens’ debut for LSP with 1 more boom bap track with a bit of a funkier twist to it describing sexual relations with those exact type of women feeling reminiscent of Necro’s sex raps regarding the level of vulgarity.
Only halfway through the decade with 6 LPs & an EP deep, the Heathens introduce themselves as the newest members of Team Snuff by carrying on the Experimental Drugz series with their finest work together so far in addition to raising my expectations for their next offering under the saw & axe. Stir Crazy & J. Reno both kills it with their shares of the production & lyrically, both ILLtemper & King Gordy are at their filthiest.
Score: 8/10