I’ve been a pretty huge fan of Brockhampton ever since the first Saturation album was recommended to me by Google Music “Because I like Injury Reserve.” That began a pretty wild six months in which the group released three fantastic albums, embarked on two mostly sold out North American tours (one of which I went to), and continued to steadily grow a fanbase of oldheads and young bucks. The strength of being a group as large and varied as Brockhampton is they have something for everyone. Are you a teen self conscious about your sexuality? There’s a Brockhampton song for you. Are you an older hip hop fan who misses the smooth sounds of g-funk? There’s a Brockhampton song for you. Do you love noisy and experimental hip hop? Guess what, they do that too. Most impressively, Brockhampton manages to blend all of these different styles while always sounding like Brockhampton.

Which brings us to what is probably the biggest overhaul of Brockhampton’s sound. The past nine months for the Brockhampton camp have been an insane rollercoaster. Signing with RCA Records for $15 million, founding member Ameer Vann being effectively kicked out due to sexual assault allegations, announcing and cancelling three albums (EDITORS NOTE: Yeah I said three. Pencil was never a real thing. Sorry, /r/Brockhampton), performing on national TV for the first time, and then touring Europe which led to the band challenging themselves to create an album in ten days at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

Now that I’ve given more backstory for an album then I ever have in a review (and still only scratched the surface) let’s jump into the ten day album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, iridescence. One of the main fears about this album being the first without Ameer Vann on the mic was that the aggression his deep raspy voice brought to the group would be gone. That fear is immediately washed away with the hard hitting opening track, “NEW ORLEANS.” This is one of the most aggressive songs the group has put out to date. From the noisy bass boosted production, to hard hitting verses from most of the members but most notably Joba and Dom, “NEW ORLEANS” makes sure you know from the jump this is a new Brockhampton. Even the boyband’s resident RnB crooner Bearface makes his rapping debut with a short, but effective verse that’s surprisingly catchy. Jaden Smith also has a short feature which is… Fine? He doesn’t really add anything to the song but also doesn’t take anything away. He’s just sorta there.

“NEW ORLEANS” transitions seamlessly into “THUG LIFE.” So seamlessly, in fact, If you weren’t paying attention to the tracks you could easily be tricked into thinking it was just a beat switch in “NEW ORLEANS.” Bearface even reuses his verse from the previous track which helps the illusion of being one track. “THUG LIFE” serves as a short but sweet mellow track in between the two absolute bangers of “NEW ORLEANS” and “BERLIN.” The latter of which being one of my favorite tracks on the album. Featuring the noisy production we’ve already been introduced to on the intro track, as well as a smooth as hell hook and one Matt Champion’s best verses on the album. Not to mention Joba’s delivery on the line “You hung yourself, that’s not my fault. I just supplied the rope.” *chef kiss* Perfection.

After this we get two tracks, neither of which reaching the two minute mark. One I really like, and one I really don’t. First is the one I’m not a fan of which is “SOMETHING ABOUT HIM.” A short love song dedicated by the band’s leader, Kevin Abstract, to his boyfriend Jaden Walker. Honestly, if they had cut out the second chorus and just went straight to that instrumental outro after the short verse this would serve as a nice interlude. It feels weird to say this about a song that’s barely a minute and a half but it feels a little long.

The second of the two short tracks is “WHERE THE CASH AT” which is another favorite of mine on the record. A lot of people have been comparing the production on this album to Death Grips or Vince Staples on Big Fish Theory but if I had to compare it to anything I’d say it sounds like what would happen if Danny Brown put out an album in between Old and Atrocity Exhibition. This song proves my point probably better than any song on the album. It’s basically a Merlyn solo track featuring Matt Champion and it rules.

The next few tracks demonstrate perfectly how much of a rollercoaster this album, and the band’s lives leading up to it’s production have been. Starting with the heartfelt and personal track “WEIGHT” which features one of Kevin Abstract’s most vulnerable verses to date over some beautiful string arrangements. The track picks up after a beat switch and some scratched vocals but still has features personal verses from Joba and Dom. We go straight from that into another noise rap banger with “DISTRICT” which switches back to the emotional side of the band with “TAPE” after a short interlude about fame.

Overall I’d say this album is about fame more than anything. Here you have a bunch of kids in their early twenties who, almost overnight, went from making songs in their bedrooms to being internet sensations with a massive record deal and fans around the world. At their core, slow jam songs like “TAPE and “TONYA” as well as the noisy aggressive tracks like “DISTRICT” and “J’OUVERT” are all about how they deal with this new found fame and all of the love and hate that fame brings their way. As Joba screams on “J’OUVERT”, “Wish that I was better at dealing with the fame and you fake motherfuckers! Guess I’m too real.” That one line could basically serve as the mission statement for the entire album.

I could say the late half of the album features some of my favorite songs but at this point I think that’d be pointless as there’s only one song on the album I DON’T like. So at the end of the day, all of these songs are my favorite songs. The second half features the insanely groovy and catchy “HONEY” which not only contains a Beyonce sample but also a sample from a past Brockhampton song. The there’s what could be call the album’s last banger with “VIVID” which I don’t have much to say about other than it’s another Brockhampton banger so of course it rules pretty hard.

Once “VIVID” is done it’s time for REAL SAD BOI HOURS as we go into the final three songs on the album. kicking this off is the guitar driven “SAN MARCOS” which has a somber tone but turns hopeful and uplifting as the choir swells and repeats the refrain “I want more out of life than this.” The aforementioned “TONYA” follows this, which was the first song the band ever performed on live TV as well as being the first song written after (and probably about) the departure of Ameer Vann.

The album closes with another song focusing on how fame and controversy has change the band. This song is a perfect closer to the experience that is this album. Starting by keeping the somber tone of the previous song but slowly building as the bass begins to become a driving force and Kevin Abstract repeats the phrase “You don’t understand why I can’t get up and shout.” The album then closes with what can only be called an “after credits scene” that sets up the next album in this new trilogy they’ve dubbed The Best Years of Our Lives.

Overall, I don’t think it’s really fair to compare this album to the Saturation trilogy. The past nine months have changed them so much they’re practically a completely new band at this point. A lot of fans and critics haven’t exactly taken to this hard stylistic shift but, in my opinion, it’s exactly what the band needed. Brockhampton had a lot to prove on iridescence, namely that they could still release a solid album without a key member as well as continue to push themselves artistically. I personally think they more then achieved that goal and on a scale of one to ten, I’d give this album like a bunch of flame emojis.

Click here to watch the video for “J’OUVERT”