THE BLOOD OF THE STARS - beastboi.

Underground dubstep producer beastboi. (for the rest of this writeup, I'll drop the period at the end of his name and just say "beastboi") rolls back for round two and drops his sophomore album just a year after his debut in 2024.

Structurally he's gone for a very different path. His debut "WINGZ & FANGZ" was intriguing for its two-disc structure, but "THE BLOOD OF THE STARS" is having none of that nonsense, and beastboi opts for a single disc that runs cohesively for its entire 40 minutes of runtime. Indeed, the continuous nature of this project greatly helps it to satiate the common album listener — beastboi includes some clean transitions between tracks to allow it to feel like a holistic experience, and, for the most part, it does. Despite frequently jumping tonalities, "THE BLOOD OF THE STARS" maintains a consistent production arc throughout, kicking off with dense abrasive dubstep and slowly turning down the pressure to sink into a more vibey, withdrawn, alternative feel, before rounding it off with an explosive final cut. Structurally he's gone for a very different path, yes, but this structure is just as good as his debut album — if not better. Unfortunately, I still haven't quite come around to beastboi's production style yet. His style of messy, volatile briddim simply just fails to stick with me, as a very stylistically overblown and overwhelming barrage of noise that conveniently forgets it needs to structure itself. And when it does structure itself, the structure is that same punchy briddim structure that seems to lack any sort of depth, aiming instead for a rather shallow headbanging appeal. Thankfully, beastboi experiments with production, deviating from his dubstep to move into other genres, particularly in the latter half. I suspect this is where "THE BLOOD OF THE STARS" manages to overtake "WINGZ & FANGZ" — where the latter was inconsistent and had some downright painful tracks in its second disc, beastboi's sophomore record feels a lot more self-conscious and aware of its experimentalism. This project definitely plays it safe in the more alternative tracks — ironically perhaps a little too safe at times, a flaw in itself — and, for the most part, I think it works in beastboi's favour. The sampling is more tasteful and the transitions bolster a much-needed sense of continuity necessary for "THE BLOOD OF THE STARS" to revel not only in its tracklist, but in its tracks, something which perhaps beastboi's debut was unable to do.

Though the zenith of experimentalism was definitely higher in "WINGZ & FANGZ", I maintain that "THE BLOOD OF THE STARS" is an improvement. There are less standout tracks, sure, but the fact remains that this is simply a more well-put-together record with a lot more consistency than its predecessor; there's nothing egregious to my ears here, and I consider that a win. That being said, it should be noted that beastboi's style doesn't quite seem to click with me as much as it seems to click with others — and as a fan of beastboi's melodic stuff as opposed to his heavier stuff, it didn't feel like he quite hit the mark on those melodic tracks here.