With a unique mixture of sounds ranging from electronica dance music to a slight tecnho-metal feel, Crunk Witch “The Legends of Manicorn” is definitely a CD worth checking out.
The album gives off a morbid first impression. A song titled “BXBS” is especially shocking to hear the first time through, with the first two lines being “All the silverware and dishes are poisoned, we’re having you as guests,” and the rest of the song following with a detailed description of some type of cannibalistic murder fantasy. A common theme throughout all of the songs seems to be death, anguish, and deceit, implying that the artist views life as a type of ‘hell on earth’. Even the sounds produced in the album take on a dark undertone, each one resonating to create a hollow, empty feeling. The lead vocalist uses a particular style of singing, exaggerating certain words while simultaneously playing around with the each note and pitch. The sounds produced from this technique can be compared what you might expect to hear from someone in agony.
Interestingly enough, there seems to be a message hidden beneath what is first heard. Religion, mainly Christianity, is a topic touched upon subliminally in almost every track. With lyrics such as “woke up one morning but baby daddy wasn’t around” and “there’s no way that your ovaries are burning with the power of god, must be something that you don’t tell,” the track titled “Buckle Up Mary” gives better insight to the true intentions of the artist. In contrast to what seemed to be a message of hatred and a strange lust for suffering, my interpretation of the album is that Crunk Witch uses music to make the point that we, as humans, are trapped in a hell of our own making. With personal consequences stemming from an internal need to deny truth and accept responsibility, we let our demons get the best of us.