Search - Swollen Members :: Balance

Ground Breaking!

Jason_Jay_ P | Vancouver, BC Canada | 12/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe it's just that i'm from Vancouver and so are these guys, but i can't get enough of this cd. "Balance" is the original Dark underground sound of swollen. I believe it portrays the intrigue and overall feeling of Vancouver at night. Lyrically and production wize, you can't beat this album. S+M have been performing for years all over the world and gained respect in many cities from many top underground mc's. A small amount of them join forces with Mad Child and Prevail to add some finishing touches including Del and Dilated peoples. "Balance" is diverse and ground breaking for the hip hop scene. Don't Sleep on this!"

Cambat an entity when attacked reacts by absorbin ya energy

Jarod aka Verbal | Nags Head, NC | 02/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't even begin to say enough about this album. Prevail (the dread head of the contrasting pair) says it best. "My comparitive dissention from high is an intense description of why the valkyre i fly." And that's just a tiny lyrical smidgen of how you'll feel after listening to Balance. This is the first album of the group that was founded by Deltron. Madchild slept on the floor of a pizza parler, freestylin for money, and finally got paid off. I could say much more about this rap enomily except that i think it falls into some sort of "dungens and dragons" kinda horror rap. Madchilds lyrics are powerful and seem to just be shot at you at times, and prevail plays it cool and brushes rubix cube like lyrics offa his sholder. Both are equally excellent rhymers in their own respects. This is the 1st album, and no matter what anyone says, it is by far the best. Seemingly innumerable hours must have been put into the production of the beats and the intracasy of the flows. In summery, BUY THIS FREAKIN ALBUM!...i don't care who you are, if you don't like it you must be a freakin puff daddy or big tymers fan. Cause Swollen Members cuts out the bull! "I'm quadrophrentic mentally/not laughing at me but laughing with me accidentilly." - Madchild. Ponder that....IF YOU CAN!"

Balanced Greatness!

Cuzz | Where Real Music Lives | 01/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"During the late 90's-early 00's, Battle Axe Records has become the biggest independent Hip-Hop label in Canada and a pretty damn respectable label in all respects. It has released solid albums from the likes of Son Doobie of Funkdoobiest, Abstract Rude, LMNO of The Visionaries, Buc Fifty, Sweatshop Union, BrassMunk, Mr. Brady, Shabazz the Disciple, Moka Only (Swollen Members), Sunspot Jonz, Perfect Strangers, and more. Yet the disc that started it all was by MC Prevail 1 & MC/Label CEO Mad Child as the Swollen Members (later Moka & Rob The Viking would be added as well). Their debuts album features production from underground heavyweights like The Alchemist, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Kool Dj. Eq, & Del Tha Funkee Homosapien as well as label stalwarts like Kemo, Zodak, Paul Nice and Joey Chavez. There was also cuts by some of the worlds best in Mix Master Mike & Kut Masta Kurt and others. As well as guests from Dilated Peoples, Everlast, Divine Styler, Saafir, Del, Aceyalone, as well as others. But above all that what about the group members? Well you have Prevail who has a mid-range tone not to deep and not too high or scratchy real nice to listen to, as well as being able to quicken his speed of flow during his duelling of fierce battle rhymes, with lyrical style for miles. Now Mad Child is another story he has a sort of a white-snoop delivery which sounds very creepy sometimes, which goes well with the over all eerie tone of this record, now lyric wise it's debated over which of the two is better but I have to say Mad Child comes with whack lines on occasion but makes up for it other times. They have crafted here an alt-rap album full of dark mythical imagery with a brooding feeling yet not hardcore like most dark rap albums which are horror core. What lacks a bit is the hook department which would be a little nicer on the ears to have better ones but they make up for it with the top notch production and interesting rhymes throughout with a solid vibe with no time wasted for filler just straight ahead quality hip hop. Now I'll talk about tracks songs I found to be the most interesting on the album....Ground Breaking ~ This is the opening track to the album, produced by to me lesser known beatsmith in Kool Dj. EQ, it basically sets the setting for the rest of the album using quick start stopish percussion, a low-key rapid piano sample with the main "groove" created by some disembodied monkish chanting, for me Mad Child stands out using imagery like Witches, Labrynths and various dark otherworldly things and the hook is tight referring to nightmares which is the spooky effect this album leaves you with, great opener breaks the ground perfectly.Strength ~ Then comes my second favourite track on the album, produced by The Alchemist it has fast more prominent keys and the drum and bass is more pounding along with some background atmospheric noises to flesh out the dark sound even more, I feel though on this track Prev comes nicer on the mic and his delivery suits the beat more than Mad Child.Counter Parts ft/ Dilated Peoples ~ A nice posse cut with Swollen sharing the mic with Dilated Peoples, my favourite piano loop on the whole album due to it's simplicity, heavier bass than a lot of tracks on this disc compliments the background noises interjected well as well as the piano loop, All the Mcs work well but Dilated outshines Swollen on their own track, oh well still an awesome joint.Left Field ft/ Del Tha Funkee Homosapien/Unicron ~ Changing up the dark pace of the album comes Del. Lending the beat which is a very fun/happy type beat with flutey sounding sample and some vocals I think and some grimy drums and liveish bass. Mix Master Mike does some nice work with distortion as well. Del, Mad Child & Prev all drop solid verses but what really makes this track stand out is it has Del performing a verse in a character called Unicron which is his voice sped up and he comes of extremely tight at first I thought it was a new rapper which got me a little more excited but Del is and always has been a master on the micThose were my personal fav's but the rest of the album has plenty more imaginative beats and fresh lyrics and flows. All in all a great alternative to mainstream hip hop and also an alternative to hardcore underground or more "soft" alt-rap artists so they bring a really unique flavour. 4 stars! So go out and support some Canadian boys!"