Dirty Roy's Resurrerrection In The Form Of Thunder Cock

Upon opening a brown envelope that arrived through my post box earlier this week, a sudden urge of giddy excitement erupted inside of me. Not to be confused with the type of excitement children get before Christmas or on their birthday, unless your child would prefer receiving a dead dog rather than a living, breathing one.

‘Thunder Cock’ marks the return of Belfast’s most infamous rapper, Roysta. With 9 albums under his belt and everyone one of them online for free download at Lastfm.com/music/roysta; Roysta embodies anarchism to sickening heights. Judging by the recent outcry from the media and public on BBC censorship, if this album somehow managed to find its way onto the Radio 1 airwaves (I don’t want to imagine its effect on Radio 4 listeners) I am positive the studios would explode and the building collapse completely.

On ‘Thunder Cock’ Roysta mixes some of the most twisted lyrics with cult film samples, a plethora of filthy basslines, Angerfist inspired hardstyle beats, head banging death metal and outlandish hip hop. Each song is as shocking as the next and the 10 tracks totalling to only 29 minutes actually suits this album superbly.

With Beastie Boys–like chopped sampling on ‘The Fine Art Of Self Abuse’ we hear Divynals hit, ‘Touch Myself’ over a piano before a shout of ‘Let’s go! Drop the Bass’ and some thumping Dubstep kicks in to blow minds away. Roysta’s sick humour is evident in everything he says on ‘Thunder Cock’.

‘You know you are a sinner,
If you masturbate,
And Satan wants to take your soul away’

When sung over the power ballad piano it raises a definite smile. This is probably the most delicate moment on the album if that makes things clearer when explaining the extremes Roysta goes to on this LP.

On ‘All The Kids Are Into K’ Dirty Roy growls his ode to ketamine in a bizarre Clockwork Orange styled track. His appreciation for Stanley Kubrick’s cult hit is impressive when he starts rhyming in the same manner in which the characters talk within the film. Anyone familiar with inny outty, guttiwuts and gullivers will not be disappointed whenever Malcolm Mc Dowell's ‘ultra violence’ sample combined with banging kick drums pulsates out their speakers.

The sound is raw and truly unadulterated. Parents should be thankful Roysta probably won’t be on their televisions anytime soon because if they thought Marilyn Manson or Eminem were bad then they are in for a surprise. Tracks such as ‘The Venereal Olympics’, ‘Shake Babies Not Ass’ and ‘Confessions Of A Fader’ have some infectiously banging beats to credit Roysta. The verses are attention catching in dark and psychotic ways while the album remains deeply unsettling and scary if taken at face value. It’s the attention to detail that makes this album much more than rancid ideas recorded over loud noises. Much in the same way The Streets spoke to a totally new audience on Original Pirate Material or Dizzee Rascal with Boy In Da Corner, ‘Thunder Cock’ represents, like it or not, some people’s lives.

‘If you drink ‘til you collapse,
And throw bricks at the cops,
And get wapped off your bap
Let me hear you say Thunder Cock’

It is relentless, hardcore, soul destroying music that anarchists will love. This album could well become a guilty pleasure to many through its sheer amount of pop culture references, Bill Hicks samples and grimy feel.

The Dirt Core Death Squad member has returned with a memorable 10^th album, it’s a refreshing and uniquely rewarding listen. When approached with an open mind and a warped sense of humour then this CD contains a vast amount of replay value for the listener. As long as you do not have uncontrollable tendencies to re-enact the events portrayed in the music then I dare you to give the CD half an hour of your life to listen to it once through. Ok that’s it; I’m now off to despair for society.