Search - Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of the Pharaohs :: The Torture Papers

Hard and unadulterated hip hop

ctrx | 'bout to show you how the EAST COAST rocks... | 03/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Army of the Pharaoh's collaboration album "The Torture Papers" features a large number of talented MCs and a great producer brought together for a very rewarding album. I had not listened to many of the rappers featured here before this album but bought it based on the recommendation of a friend and was very impressed. AOTP always provides hard, grimy lyrics over fitting gritty beats. Their style of horrorcore rap sometimes evokes an early Wu-Tang project, sometimes sounds like an old Mobb Deep, but is always original. All the MCs have very tight chemistry and work well together. Their delivery is precise and original. "The Torture Papers" is definitely worth a listen, especially because it is very different than what's on the radio.



The album begins with "Feast of the Wolves", a good first track because it shows everything AOTP has to offer, with grimy, threatening lyrics and a focused, matching beat. The same could be said about "King Among Kings". "Battle Cry" is a standout song. It is an all-out crazy rap with nine contributors and a great beat with violins and bass. "Gorillas", an anthem with nice violin, keyboards, and voice samples, is one of my favorites for the great lyricism and hook. "Henry the 8th" has a crazy spinning beat. "Pull the Pins Out" and "Tear it Down" feature revealing and characterizing verses. "Into the Arms of Angels" is very noteworthy because it is the only toned down track on the album. They take a break from the murder rap and talk about some relationship problems, it's great. The title track has a guitar rock-style beat and lyrics on par to the rest. "Listen Up" has a hard hook and a great murder rap. One of my favorite beats and hooks is found on "All Shall Perish". "Wrath of the Gods" and the downbeat "Narrow Grave" round off the collection strongly. My favorite rappers on the album are probably Apathy and Celph Titled, but they all do a great job.



"The Torture Papers" is a very strong, well rounded, and complete album. It's got everything you'd hope for from such a talented supergroup, and hopefully it will receive the exposure it deserves. I recommend it even to people who haven't experienced much underground hip hop because it's very accessible, strictly real and lyrical hip hop.



Here's the tracklist:

1. Battle Cry

2. Gorillas

3. Henry the 8th

4. Pull the Pins Out

5. Tear it Down

6. Into the Arms of Angels

7. The Torture Papers

8. Listen Up

9. All Shall Perish

10. Wrath of Gods

11. Narrow Grave

12. Feast of Wolves

13. King Among Kings"

AOTP finally releases an album this year

JoeNJ85 | 06/11/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Despite only releasing a vinyl only EP in 1998 ("The Five Perfect Exertions") and having only a few collabos done, there has always been a huge amount of hype and demand for a full length Pharoahs project. For those that don't know, Army Of The Pharoahs was originally a side project by Jedi Mind Tricks that also included Esoteric, Virtuoso, Chief Kamachi and Bahamadia...the group is much bigger now though as Virt, Jus and Bahamadia are out now and in place are Reef The Lost Cauze, Outerspace (Crypt The Warchild & Planetary), King Syze, Des Devious and Demigodz members Apathy and Celph Titled. Also with the exception of 1 concept track, everything else is all battle rhymes as expected...but with that line-up for an album, it should live up to the hype right?



Now this is my opinion, as a long-time JMT fan as well as being a fan of most of the other members...the absence of Stoupe on the boards (also with Jus Allah and Virtuoso obviously gone) and a few sub-par verses/beats/tracks pretty much knock the rating down to only 3 stars, even though there's still a lot to like on the album. As mentioned before Stoupe didn't produce anything on here, and in place are mostly upcoming European producers with additional beats by 7L, Beyonder and Apathy. Just like with all the JMT albums, the producers try to emulate that same grimey, epic and cinematic sound...it's actually done well too for the most part, with only a few disappointing beats making it on here.



The album starts off with the biggest posse cut on the LP entitled "Battle Cry", with all members (except for Reef) dropping short but memorable verses one right after the other with no chorus. Shuko laces a nice epic orchestral beat for this one, even though JuJu Mob have already used this sample before on "Black Of Dawn" (ironically Kamachi is on both tracks)...i definitly prefer Battle Cry in both ways though, and on this track my favorite verses come from Apathy, Outerspace and Chief Kamachi. "Gorillas" is up next and while it has a dope beat and is decent overall, to me it sounds like it'd fit more on a Demigodz LP than on here...Outerspace are dope like always but both Apathy and Esoteric are pretty average on this plus the Vinnie Paz hook does get annoying quickly. "Henry The 8th" is more like it though, with an all star line-up of Vinnie Paz, Chief Kamachi, Reef The Lost Cauze and Planetary all killing it on another dope symphonic beat, this time produced by Undefined...the next track "Pull The Pins Out" definitly should've been cut though. While Beyonder laces a pretty dope dark synth beat and Celph Titled drops a few nice lines, it only feautres him and Esoteric on it...Eso is pretty bad on this as well, since both his verses are mediocre and it sounds like he's rapping with a mouth full of marbles, this would've been a nice track though if Outerspace took his place instead.



Thankfully the album rebounds with the lead single "Tear It Down", with Reef The Lost Cauze, Planetary and Vinnie Paz all dropping pretty dope verses over incredible production by Loptimist which sounds like a cross between a DJ Premier and Stoupe beat. "Into The Arms Of Angels" is the only concept track on here, with Crypt The Warchild and Vinnie Paz (who also steals the show at the end) going over personal family problems in their life over a mellow reflective guitar beat by Rain, and Faez One makes his only appearance on this track with a verse...it's a good track but doesn't really fit with everything else. Up next is the title track which surprisingly sounds like another Demigodz track...while the psychedelic guitar beat (produced by Apathy) is good as well as the verses by Celph Titled, Planetary and Apathy, again it really doesn't fit the Pharoahs album. "Wrath Of Gods" is easily the worst track on the LP, as DC drops the ball with a really bad beat and the rhymes really aren't very good either...luckily though everything else on the album lives up to the hype. Both 7L produced tracks ("Listen Up" and "King Among Kings") are some of the best on the album, as the dark cinematic beats and MC performances (even Eso isn't too bad on either) is more like what i was expecting on here...both Celph and Crypt drop nice verses on Listen Up while Kamachi, Vinnie and Celph all rip it on Kings.



Shuko laces another dope epic beat on "All Shall Perish", but this time it's made up of a sampled choir, piano and a nice bassline...Kamachi, King Syze and Vinnie all delivered as well with great performances. The last 2 tracks i need to cover on here are "Narrow Grave" and "Feast Of The Wolves", both also might feature the best "Stoupe emulated" production on the album...The White Shadow produced the former with a simple but powerful beat which is made up of a female vocal sample singing throughout (and is reminiscent of Blood In Blood Out), and Oaks produced the latter which is another amazing orchestral beat. Chief Kamachi and Planetary both drop outstanding verses on Narrow Grave, but unfortunately the King Syze verse is pretty average...Feast also features Vinnie, Apathy and Celph all at their psychotic best and expect some controversial lines as well. I also need to mention that it's a shame "Silence & I" got cut from The Torture Papers (it had to be from Vinnie threatening Bush at the end), since it's a dope Shuko produced track which featured Vinnie Paz, King Syze and Celph Titled...so if you're a JMT fan or looking for a good underground hip-hop release this year, i'd say Torture Papers is worth buying if you can find it for a good price but honestly i was expecting a little more overall though."

One of the best for 2006

Ntalek | Barbados | 01/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No doubt one of the best hip hop albums I listened to in 2006. Majority if not all of the album is battle raps, wid some tight metaphors. From the time I got it until now it's been in my CD changer and I don't intend to take it out anytime soon. Every single beat on this album is hot, if you doubt me check out 'Gorillaz'. I played it over five times when I first heard it. In my opinion the emcee that really stands out on this CD would definitely have to be Celph Titled but don't get me wrong ES comes real hard to, as well as Apathy. Vinnie Paz comes with his classic battle style, brilliant as usual but he didn't catch me as much as the others. Another great song is 'Into The Arms of Angels'. I love the way they use samples, and the types of samples they use are nothing like the ones you'd hear 9th Wonder using. These samples make the beats sound like a twist between alternative and rap, a real nice sound. This album is definitely worth checking out, add it to your collection and elevate ya mind."