This is the sophomore effort from York, Pennsylvania emcee Mikahl Lawless. Signing to Lyrikal Snuff Productionz a couple years ago, he made his full-length debut a few months later with Gangri-La & shortly after teamed up with MC Welchs for a collaborative EP called Carnevil. However to celebrate with the 2 year anniversary of his record deal, it makes absolute since for Mikahl to celebrate by unleashing The Snuff Gremlin on Friday the 13th & have it coincide with labelmate Chuckklez’ own sophomore effort Horrors from the Unstable fully produced by DJ Ill Sprite.
“Maybe Another Life” is this trap intro flexing that everyone wants a piece of the demonic spirit within him & losing all reason whereas “No Angel” talks about embracing his demons & asking for strength in the flames he’s feeling. “Hit the Deck” fuses trap & gangsta rap advising to drop to the ground as he lets shots ring out from his heater that is until “Let It Go” embraces the trap metal sound hoping y’all see the other side after tonight.
Scum joins Mikahl on “When I Think About It” coming clean that it excites them when thinking of some day reading of a couple people that they wish death on getting what’s coming to them just before the dejecting “Finding Distance” admits that he doesn’t feel like people want to get to know him. The anthemic title track aggressively represents his crew for 2 & a half minutes leading into the sample-driven “After Everything” saying that if he has to take a soul, he’ll go there.
“Kreepin’” brings back the trap metal vibes assuring that you’ll be purified through the flames of Hell itself & catchin’ him lurkin’ through his hood while “Relationship A.D.” takes 125 seconds to talk about his murderous tendencies. “Dead” mixes elements of rage & horrorcore in an interesting way teaching that sometimes blood has to be spilled to find your footing while “My Haunted House” talks about The Wraith carrying him from all his pain.
The song “Smiley” pushes further towards the encore of The Snuff Gremlin by giving everyone a dose of the very psychosis that he so happens to suffer from while the cloudy penultimate track “Low” talks about being persecuted like no other when he used to represent the confederate flag & Insane Clown Posse had a highlight on their debut album Carnival of Carnage called “Fuck Your Rebel Flag”, but I digress & mean absolutely no disrespect by mentioning that. The closer however “Bleed Out” ends on a trap metal note justifying his demons.
Some in the underground wicked shit scene are reasonably quick to dismiss Mikahl as a juff for the whole rebel flag thing & even putting that aside, I was still open-minded enough to go into The Snuff Gremlin expecting to get a better understanding of who he is artistically & I can say that there are improvements over his debut. The production’s more versatile whether it be trap, trap metal, cloud rap & a hint of rage to suit the horrorcore & gangsta rap lyricism that the east coast artist delivers.
Score: 7/10
