Koenig - 1 Above Minus Underground [Ventil Records Promo]

Put out on the circuit on April 28th, 2k23 via the Austrian label Ventil Records is "1 Above Underground", the latest full length album effort by Lukas König a.k.a. Koenig who, over the course of nine tracks and approx. 35 minutes total runtime, creates a well fever'ish brooding sonic universe accompanied by a plethora of contributing guest musicians from all over the globe of which the most well known and outstanding might be the Mutant HipHop x Illbient pioneers Sensational and Dälek from our very personal perspective. Opening with the sluggish and claustrophic Vault Rap of "Last Dance" which could've been a proper good fit to Mille Plateaux' famed 'Electric Ladyland' compilation series decades ago the musical ark progresses into what could be filed under the flag of Industrial Future R'n'B with "Another One" whereas "Diffidence" sees Sensational on some prime shit, providing trademark flows over hefty and distorted, advanced dancefloor moving Mutant HipHop beats. These three cuts are laying down the foundation for things to come like the similarly banging Illbient groove monster that is "Ratchet", the apocalytic killer flows delivered by Dälek in "Due Diligence" atop Funk brass infused bass terror which takes a surprising turn into an improvised FreeJazz closing before "War Is The Unveiling Of The Truth" sees Rojin Sharafi spreading Hardcore Rap knowledge on Mutated Phonk beats, "Kali" walks the line between sonically threatening Illbient and Experimental slomo Dub(step) pressure and the final cut that is "W'rat'h" comes full circle with a set of super heavy Illbient structures infused with somewhat oriental sample cutups and tectonic low end movements creeping up from the deepest subsurface vaults. One of those uncomprimising underground albums that are rarely made like this anymore these days and therefore need to make their way into everyones collection for a reason. Highly recommended.