RENEGADE - REAPER

The good: REAPER has always been known for his thick, meaty, almost neuro basses layed over drum n bass and halftime beats, toeing the line between jump up and neurofunk — and "RENEGADE" is no different. With the typical leads of jump up and the dense sound design to match, each track offers relentlessly hard-hitting low-ends, being abrasive and unafraid to break boundaries to carve out their own niche in the DnB scene. Some clean leads and energetic sampling is enough for REAPER, giving the sound design full reign to take over wholly — and it does so, rather boldly. All in all, "RENEGADE" does a great job at the brash style of heavy DnB, and it pushes boundaries in the scene for a reason — because it's interesting in its sound design, and quality in its execution.

The bad:  And yet, something about the "RENEGADE" EP feels a little forgettable. This is a collection of 4 strong tracks, yes, tracks that certainly deserve their time in the limelight, but as it stands, they often individually fail to stand out (I commend "HEATSEEKER" for being the exception, but the other three struggle). When most of the tracks are overdone, when most of the tracks host very similar dense basslines and sound design, it can prove to be a vice for the EP. Whilst the sound design is an intriguing direction for DnB as a whole, it manages to tire itself out within this EP.