Crafting the follow-up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy must have been difficult for Kanye West – the 2010 release garnered immaculate critical acclaim even boasting a perfect score from several publications, so his following solo album would surely have been dwarfed by its predecessor and compared to unfavourably. His fifth studio outing was unashamedly bombastic and overblown, clashing cultures and genres and art forms together in an overtly excessive manner never previously done on such a grand scale. The album's title was entirely reflective of its 70-minute run-time, yet at the core of the pompous hip-hop maximalism were intricately woven pop songs delivered by highly decorated artists at the very top of their game, with Kanye at the front of it all rolling through in his Lamborghini Murciélago
Yeezus then, was somehow the most obvious way in which Kanye could continue as an artist, to respond to his previous solo album with something some would consider its polar opposite; in a similar parallel to how punk followed prog – Yeezus followed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. 40 minutes and 1 second long, 10 tracks, no album artwork, production coming in from the minimalist Rick Rubin merely weeks before the release; everything that was so meticulously forethought on MBDTF seemed to come to a hurtling car crash of a conclusion with Yeezus. Yet despite its industrial exterior and abrasive edges, it also manages to be incredibly a**ured, remarkably cohesive and consistently impressive – it might even be his best album to date
The following is a track-by-track Twitter album review of Kanye West's Yeezus. It has been reformatted very slightly to read with greater grammatical accuracy, however you can view the original text at @carlpinto17 on Twitter (originally posted on 11-12/02/14)
On Sight - brash, loud and obnoxious techno a**ault. Takes a few listens but is a strong opener to 2013's most anticipated hip-hop release
Black Skinhead - Kanye panting, screaming and ranting left, right and centre over tribal rhythms. Most exciting hip-hop track of the year
I Am a God - confirms any suspicions that he's not 100% stable. Slick bleeps and swells and unabashed insanity with an almighty shriek
New Slaves - trudging ba** matched with harrowing lyrics very apt given the song's title. Concludes with an odd sample of novel euphoria
Hold My Liquor- subtle crescendo of warm synths under Kanye's visceral chronicling is top. Textured and atmospheric. wa*ky Bon Iver outro though
I'm In It - dogs barking, Justin Vernon's falsetto, crude lyrics and that Assa**in bloke on a mad one. Great hook too between West and Vernon
Blood on the Leaves - album's epic centrepiece. Fascinating production (especially vocally) and high emotion. Grand in scope and execution
Guilt Trip - Kanye's verse genuinely sounds like the future, shame there was only one. Structurally rethought and it's one of his best
Send It Up – nasty synth dominates like a siren but acts as a great hook. Biggest choon on there probably with a cla**ic line about a Benz
Bound 2 - celebratory end to the album. Crackly soul samples and playful rhymes. Wouldn't have been out of place 10 years ago on The College Dropout
Review by Carl Pinto - follow on Twitter @carlpinto17