It seems like the old gods have blessed us today with a track, the newest from dank wizards Touch AC and Filthy Rich, hewed from the frost-bitten halls of Crom’s kingdom. While in the past the pair have offered a grittier, grimier take on hip-hop, this time the duo have released the rap music equivalent of Jacob’s Ladder, an Eldritch horror that somehow manages to play to your paranoia and make you want to fucking bang. I’m here to tell you that the darkness of this song is almost definitely effecting the weather, causing gray clouds to form over the summer sun. Is this the prophesied Doomsday Sun that Touch raps about? Hell, I don’t know, but I’ll take the break in the humidity.

Everyone is on point here, which is no surprise. This has been a banner year for Touch, with the second release after Death, his superlative collaboration with producer extraordinaire Dr. Dundiff. Here you can see the split in Touch’s psyche, between his better angels and his greater demons, the darkness and the light in careful balance. On “The Darkest Gem“, Touch digs into those depths, staring into the void and using it as his spiritual guide to be bigger and better. Touch ruminates on Hell, the apocalypse, and the end/beginning of things. It’s that sense of finality, of gloom and doom that informs Filthy’s beats, which here are remarkably bleak. Strings glimmer in the background, like a mirage on the edge of your periphery, a creeping piano line forming the skeleton of the track, a dense morass of ambience and beats building the musculature. This is a visceral track that pulls no punches and gives no fucks.

The video here is a collage of a frantic Touch proselytizing into the gloom, intercut with scenes of religious and spiritual zealotry, people desperate for some greater purpose. Touch and Filthy will have you wondering though if such a destiny awaits anyone, or if that’s possible. As such, there is a quiet Tao to the message here, an embrace of the unknown, because it’s all that we can do. For fans of NINEl-P, and Dälek, this is up your alley, a thought provoking onion with layer upon layer.

Doomsday Sun is set to hit the streets June 8th — next Saturday at Kaiju  a dual record release show is set to happen featuring new albums from Touch AC and the Black Lung Unit, Filthy’s other current project. Listen/watch below and let the music and visuals take you. 

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