Chalk: Death Knocks and He Shall Die album review
Ex-TNC rapper Chalk came up with a concept for this album – Groovement contributor Red Hen delves into the LP, a companion piece to her in-depth interview with Chalk which you can read here.
Death Knocks and He Shall Die is the fourth release by Manchester hip hop artist Chalk. Released in May 2024 on his own label, Odd Particle Records, it’s the intriguing “soundtrack” to an imaginary film noir movie. Spanning sixteen tracks, this eclectic instrumental album reveals the plot of an imaginary film of Chalk’s own making.
Dipping into a wide range of musical styles and cultures, the album is both sumptuous and disturbing in turns. Carefully selected film dialogue emphasises the story line, and the tone of the album becomes progressively more foreboding as the story unfolds. Chalk’s own description of the album as “Hitchcock meets hip hop” is an accurate teaser of what to expect.
The album begins with The Seduction, a sumptuous song full of romantic strings and beautiful female vocals. It has a dreamy feel to it and some choice dialogue sets the scene nicely of a married man who is propositioned by another woman.
And Now You’re Here is a lush, transportative track complete with gorgeous vocal bass lines, twinkly piano and mellow flute. The mood is relaxed and light at this stage.
On Stay With Me and Last Hope, the atmosphere of the music starts to shift. Stay With Me has a funky beat, killer bass and soothing strings but the passionate, urgent vocals along with the dialogue convey themes of desperation and unrequited love.
Last Hope is a gem of a song, with drums reminiscent of DJ Shadow’s Entroducing. It starts off with gentle percussion and evolves into a tense, atmospheric soundscape. The ghostly female vocals and dialogue signal a woman in distress. These combine with industrial sounds to create an intense, suspenseful song with an overarching theme of despair.
Maker of Evil and He Shall Die take on a disconcerting tone as the plot heads towards violence. Maker of Evil’s menacing strings and dark bass mark a sinister direction in the story, whilst the operatic singing provides an air of drama.
The creepy piano, brooding strings, chaotic saxophone and deranged laughter give He Shall Die its disturbing edge which veers on madness. Death Knocks is a super funky, yet perturbing song which warns of the impending doom ahead. The plucked strings, gloomy vocals and alarm noises build up to the screams and gunshots which are at the heart of the tale.
The synthy beat of Worries and the lounge style piano are ridiculously groovy despite the haunting vocals and unsettling mood.
Missing Person, The Coroner’s Office and The Other Woman are tuneful skits which drive the narrative with cleverly placed dialogue.
The Crime Scene is an eclectic mixture of mournful horns, sharp piercing violins, twinkly chimes and erratic vocal scatting. The mood is brooding and intense as the investigation begins.
From here, the album progresses to the jazzy Nightmares and then on to the police cars of Sirens, complete with distorted, Prodigy-esque guitar.
Shadows In The Dark has a sinister feel and is full of suspense as the police close in on their suspect.
The closing track, The Confession, sees a conclusion to the murder mystery. Here the mood lightens slightly with the relief of the confession. The track is full of twinkly chimes, dreamy flute and relaxed singing which provide a sense of calm and peace after all the chaos.
Death Knocks and He Shall Die is an epic hip hop horror album. It is irresistibly funky and skilfully crafted to convey the wide range of emotions which arise from the narrative. Chalk manages to balance beauty and suspense to produce a highly listenable horror soundtrack. With echoes of DJ Shadow’s Entroducing, Death Knocks and He Shall Die is probably one of the best, yet most underrated albums to come out of Manchester in the past year.
Stream and buy the album on Bandcamp.
By Red Hen
