Album Review: Cage – Depart From Me (2009)

Album Review: Cage – Depart From Me (2009)
Rating: 3 out of 5 Potholes

Before listening to this album, you must take a deep breath and hold it, as if a massive tidal wave is about to engulf you and hold you under for about 45 minutes. Depart From Me is a very dense, very heavy album. From the opening cut, “Nothing Left To Say”, it becomes apparent that Chris Palko, better known as Cage, is going to take us on a trip full of distortion, emotion, pain, and all sorts of ups and downs. Where to begin? We wake up on the floor, disoriented, and don’t get much better from there.

Cage seems to be taking a slightly different route with this Depart From Me. This album takes a hefty chunk of influence from electronica and rock influence, backed by pounding bass drums reminiscent of a hangover or intense headache – and that’s not a bad thing. The point of this album seems to be to drag out painful, raw emotions through Cage’s signature slow drawn out rapping. While he usually focuses on very personal stories, there seemed to be a small lack of personal touch on Depart; not a total absence, as the track “Katie’s Song” proves, where Cage recalls a topically happy, yet overwhelmingly hopeless tale of love. Some other personal touches come up with some commentary from Cage, introducing himself as a former patient of a hospital rehab clinic, and proceeding to dictate his experiences from that time of his life, on “Dr. Strong”. However, the content does become somewhat muddled and overdone, as the torturous ride becomes a little repetitive fails to take any unexpected turns – the album is fairly predictable. Furthermore, Cage’s use of hooks detracts from the story-like feel of the songs. That said, the content itself is never weak; it remains decent at its worst.

That said, the driving force behind this album is the stellar production that supports many tracks. There has always been an eerie, dark approach to a lot of Def Jux projects, but with Cage’s latest, it is especially bleak (once again, a good thing). It is this production, combined with Cage’s lyrics and screwed delivery, that provides such a haunting backdrop. Some of the tracks are driven by distorted guitars, others by deep synths, and they get a kick from some highly creative drum loops. The production also does a great job of pacing the album – the transition from one track to the next makes sense (although a surprise here or there would be nice).

Depart From Me is a heavy album that requires processing. However, few will likely take the time to process it fully because they will be alienated by the excessive complaining and dragged out emotional banter. But dig a little deeper and expect to find some messages hidden in here; Cage does have something to say.