(08.09.06) In the past two years I didn’t get the opportunity of listening to any Shadow Huntaz output, even after reading exciting reviews of their debut release, Corrupt Data. So, my opinion won’t be a comparison piece with the former albums, instead I will focus on the strength of a purely instrumental release.
While “Cdc” sounds very much like an instrumental hip-hop track, with funky samples here and there, the extremely complex beats and the resonant bass of “Figure Of Speech” are enough to build a serious tune without the help of any lyrics. Obviously there’s still a big hip-hop influence, but it’s the same inspiration you can find in many Autechre works, not to mention a lot of electronic artists throughout the 90’s. Mainly all Corrupt Data Instrumentals can be divided into tunes that stand on their own, and tunes that are a bit spoilt without an MC.
In the first category there’s “Power Devine” that has a big hook in the form of a digitally smoothed slap bass; “American Dreams” balances electronic beats with live drums and guitar riffs, giving rise to an old school flavor, and then there are exceptional cases where I really think that there’s no need for vocals at all, like “Fukwit 2″ and ”That Ain’t Where It’s @,” where a load of funktastic samples assures groove, fun and extreme head-nodding.
On the other side, the distant orchestral samples of “Nite” remark that there’s a lot of space to fill with rap, as it happens for “Sick Of This Shit” and its vast lands between scratches. The Valley Of The Shadows disc is a different story though, the production is more evolved, more obscure; there’s much less funk sampling and more creepy electronics, you can judge yourself by embedding your ears in “2020,” a glitchy, bass-heavy horrific tune, or the electrified, aptly named “Massive.” The overall sensation here is that the Funcken brothers had already in mind to release an instrumental version after the vinyl success of Corrupt Data Instrumentals, because there’s only a few episodes 
that sound a bit void, like “Pevic” or the Corrupt Data sounding “Decisions.” There’s a whole lot of scary stuff here also, it’s indeed a Valley Of Shadows: “Do What I Want To” is a disturbing moment of spacious, digital funk, “Solsa” is full of puzzling scrambled beats, “Deander” features explosive acid bass and “Visons” is pure, vibrant hardcore hip-hop. An extreme example is “My Geez” that bears only a little resemblance with hip-hop, in fact there’s a hyper-speed, almost drum’n’bass beat in the background, the tempo is always changing pace –it’s a track that suggests ice-cold feelings like an Einòma work, really evocative. “Rulez OF Engagement” is a perfect finale for this spooky record, with a digital fog overwhelming sick beats; Valley Of The Shadows is without a doubt my pick of the two, but probably Corrupt Data sounds better with the lyrics.
Since you can’t choose which release to buy, I still recommend checking this out, whether you already own the originals or not it’s undoubtedly a classic electronic production, a sort of natural evolution of Cypress Hill’s spectral hip-hop Temples Of Boom / IV era.
Corrupt Data / Valley Of The Shadow Instrumentals is out now on Skam. Buy it at Amazon.com.
