A prophetic antechamber for the fusion of genres and currents at their most intense extremes, “The Adept” - the solo debut by Kenyan artist Martin Kanja, aka Lord Spikeheart - lashes at the vital debris of grindcore, death metal, noise, rap, digital hardcore, and mystical incantations from African folklore, reanimating them into a sinister body in constant mutation.
Released on his own label, Haekalu, “The Adept” goes straight for the jugular of multiple systems of oppression, doubling as a heartfelt tribute to his great-grandmother, the first woman to earn the rank of Field Marshall during the Mau Mau uprising against British colonial brutality. Powerful. With a battalion of collaborators including DJ Scotch Rolex, Safety Trance, Backxwash, and DJ Die Soon, Spikeheart summons a vortex of furious blast beats, abyssal percussion, prismatic cascades of noise, and a tension between dance and disoriented headbanging: a chaos of piercing screams, whispers, howls, and rapped invocations in Kikuyu, Kiswahili, and English. Absolutely fierce.