Customer Reviews

Devious Methods

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this album four months ago after hearing his new mix tape (sick). It has not left my stereo yet. It mixes hip hop and abstract drum n bass together creating by far one of the best drum n bass albums i have heard in the five years that I have been listining to jungle or drum n bass. Anyone will appreciate and enjoy, not just jungle heads.......

If you are into "dark" drum&bass, this is your album. There is incredible variation between the songs, so that the CD as a whole is not monotonous but still has a unified mood. You will not get bored (this is rare for drum&bass artists, but Hive pulls it off beautifully.) The construction of the tracks ranges from breakneck-pace drums to slow and heavy beats. Samples are very well-placed, and a funny, or forboding, complement to the music. Use of synth and guitar samples -- albeit sparingly -- is icing on the cake. You'll listen to it over and over again (I did.)

I love this album. I heard it when it came out, and I still play it out 7 years later. I don't know how the kids I was chilling with knew to buy this album back then, but they always rocked out to Ultrasonic Sound. I finally found and bought the album about a year later. That track blew my mind then, and the whole album still does now. It's a thematic, mind-bending experience through both the fierceness and lulling vibes of the drum&bass journey as it should be felt in its entirety. Synthetic Rhythms and all the Moves Within Time tracks are examples of experimental deviations that a thorough EP should consist of. Devious Methods is an all-time favorite track to turn up the bass to...feel it thump, and let your brain dive off into the deep end. All dark d'n'b dj's will be looking up to this album for years as a milestone in turntablism and music history. buy it even if you dont know anything about drum&bass, it will educate you.

Great major release by the dreadlocked, LA hiphop and drum and bass producer/DJ/label runner (Violence Recordings) -- Hive.

Devious Method is more of a drum-centered album (with very fast, technical drum patterns), instead of a bass-focused album.

The album, also, utilizes a lot of guitar and vocal samples, and some synths.
It is also cool because there are a couple of samples from the classic, old scifi movie - Flash Gordon.

Of course, most people have heard of DJ Hive through his track (on this album) "Ultrasonic Sound", which was on the first Matrix soundtrack and was used as the music for the Fox Channel's Sunday football broadcasts. (That seemed really weird.)

Also, the artwork is done by the famous graffiti artist Mear One, who has also done the artwork for artist like Freestyle Fellowship, Limp Bizkit (:( ), Busdriver, Abstract Rude, etc.

I would recommend this album to anyone who enjoys technical drumming in thier DnB.
And I would encourage anyone, who likes this album and ownes a turntable to check out some of his other material at his record label's website.

This a must ! I have been listening to the best Drum'n Bass, Jungle, Abstract hip-hop,...and this album is a masterpiece. Imagine a "smart" movie about the end of the world and humanity...this is the soundtrack.

Very Dark, smart and poetic... !

Well I'm sitting here listening to this cd at work and wanted to chime in...this is really a dope cd, for drum n bass fans its a different take on the genre, i would say a truly "american" drum n bass style, very unique! lots of hip hop touches, samples that make you laugh out loud (and think), and a (punk) rock edge as well. The drum tracks could be "heavier", but the whole thing has a coherent "feel" that is truly lacking in 99% of the electronic "albums", i.e. entire cd's by 1 artist usually come up short, a collection of singles at best-whereas this one is solid all the way through. the more i listen the more i appreciate. so buy it then!

This is some of the best ORIGINAL Drum N Bass I have heard in a long time. I listen to Drum N Bass more than any other type of music and this CD is at the top of my playlist. The sound bites add to the theme of this CD with perfection. Nuclear war, prophecies, atomic monsters of Drum N Bass, and ever-present paranoia are all subjects covered in the sound bites. "What about the music?", you ask. It never disappoints. It is creative without being to far removed from what you expect from Tech Step. Deep, growling bass abounds throughout each track on the CD. The beats never seem repetitive. I cannot get enough of this CD.

These are the kinds of tracks that, when listened to, can lead to you doing things like speed on the freeway or pretend you are some kind of special agent. As a matter of fact, many of the tracks make the hair on my arms stand up. This is mainly because I have tried to create D&B tracks over the years, and know what goes into the process. That being said, these tracks are nothing short of GENIUS.

I've had this CD for years, and it is still my favorite. EVERY track is GREAT...there is no filler. This is not a DJ mix, but rather stellar tracks that play like a concept album. The beats are expertly produced, thick with layers and unique patterns. The tracks are full of samples from obscure sources that lend a hand to creating a darkly surrealistic soundscape. You can listen to this over and over, and still things pop out of nowhere. It could be a fill here, a layer there, an audio clip there...the possibilities are endless. This is like a clinic on how to create top-tier d&b (or electronic in general). If you like your drum and bass dark, jump on this! What happened to HIVE? What is Hive now?

I've owned this album since it was first released. And still to this day see it as purely incredible. Simply put, this is by far one of the most unique collaboration of talent. Very dynamic and creative. Lots of changes and heavy used of samples. I like a good dnb song but after a while they all sort of fall into the same rut...same beat, typical bass lines, not a whole lot of innovation going on. But unlike most of those greater club bangers, this project is memorable and will always have a place in my collection for decades to come.

Maybe it's the only one you need? In any case, even classical fans (like myself) should find this complication thoroughly delicious. Funny, scary, psychedelic... it's all there. My favorite part? The clips of dialog or speech which precede and sometimes end almost every track. Each clip is something fresh and entertaining.