Customer Reviews

The Torture Papers

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Army of the Pharaoh's collaboration album "The Torture Papers" features a large number of talented MCs and a great producer brought together for a very rewarding album. I had not listened to many of the rappers featured here before this album but bought it based on the recommendation of a friend and was very impressed. AOTP always provides hard, grimy lyrics over fitting gritty beats. Their style of horrorcore rap sometimes evokes an early Wu-Tang project, sometimes sounds like an old Mobb Deep, but is always original. All the MCs have very tight chemistry and work well together. Their delivery is precise and original. "The Torture Papers" is definitely worth a listen, especially because it is very different than what's on the radio.

The album begins with "Feast of the Wolves", a good first track because it shows everything AOTP has to offer, with grimy, threatening lyrics and a focused, matching beat. The same could be said about "King Among Kings". "Battle Cry" is a standout song. It is an all-out crazy rap with nine contributors and a great beat with violins and bass. "Gorillas", an anthem with nice violin, keyboards, and voice samples, is one of my favorites for the great lyricism and hook. "Henry the 8th" has a crazy spinning beat. "Pull the Pins Out" and "Tear it Down" feature revealing and characterizing verses. "Into the Arms of Angels" is very noteworthy because it is the only toned down track on the album. They take a break from the murder rap and talk about some relationship problems, it's great. The title track has a guitar rock-style beat and lyrics on par to the rest. "Listen Up" has a hard hook and a great murder rap. One of my favorite beats and hooks is found on "All Shall Perish". "Wrath of the Gods" and the downbeat "Narrow Grave" round off the collection strongly. My favorite rappers on the album are probably Apathy and Celph Titled, but they all do a great job.

"The Torture Papers" is a very strong, well rounded, and complete album. It's got everything you'd hope for from such a talented supergroup, and hopefully it will receive the exposure it deserves. I recommend it even to people who haven't experienced much underground hip hop because it's very accessible, strictly real and lyrical hip hop.

Here's the tracklist:
1. Battle Cry
2. Gorillas
3. Henry the 8th
4. Pull the Pins Out
5. Tear it Down
6. Into the Arms of Angels
7. The Torture Papers
8. Listen Up
9. All Shall Perish
10. Wrath of Gods
11. Narrow Grave
12. Feast of Wolves
13. King Among Kings

This album has some amazing tracks and some terrible tracks, but overall it's another solid release for Baby Grande. Some of these tracks are bangin, while others seem out of place or just plain weak. The top MC's on this disc are Planetary, Reef the Lost Cause, Celph Titled, and Apathy. The worst is Esoteric. I know he has a nice following, and his lyrics are dope, but his flow is just awful. The production is tight on most tracks, but lacking on a few. Overall it's a nice disc, and should be purchased by all hardcore fans. Some of these tracks are really sick, and will definitely lead to some head noddin.

Top Tracks (In my opinion)
1. Henery the Eigth (One of the best beats ever, sick lyrics)
2. Battle Cry (Hardbeat, AOTP's attempt to remake WU-Tangs "Triumph")
3. Tear it Down (this is a banger)
4. Feast of the Wolves
5. All Shall Perish

Worst Tracks
1. Wrath of Gods
2. Pull the Pins Out

There's been a steady buzz in the underground about this album since the first track, "Battle Cry" started making the rounds. As a fan of most of the artists affiliated with Army of the Pharoahs, I was a little disappointed -- with nine emcees all dropping braggadocio over a fast orchestral beat, "Battle Cry" sounded a lot like an internet collaboration.

But the album gets better as it progresses, and by the second half the group seems warmed up enough to produce the kind of sounds they're capable of.

The roster consists of Vinnie Paz, Apathy, Ceph Titled, Chief Kamachi, 7L & Esoteric, Crypt the Warchild, Des Devious, Faez One, King Syze, Planetary and Reef the Lost Cauze.

Thankfully, AOTP goes with three- or four-man line-ups after the first track, and although some combinations are better than others, the results almost always work. The fourth track, Pull the Pins Out, was the first to get my head really nodding. Celph Titled features prominently on this track, with a verse that mostly works as a celebration of creative violence and heavy weaponry. "Into the Arms of Angels" is one of the few cuts with a soft beat, with sweeping strings over a guitar sample and reflective rhymes, which is a nice switch-up in between the aggression of the tracks around it. Chief Kamachi kicks off three of the tracks, most notably "Narrow Grave," where his grimy voice and a bouncy vocal sample balance out perfectly. The line-up works too -- King Syze and Planetary follow with equally dope verses, and Paz provides a catchy hook. For fans of Violent By Design, Paz seems to return to his Ikon the Verbal Hologram style on Feast of the Wolves, and "Tear It Down" sounds like a classic Jedi Mind banger with a chopped beat, scratches and blazing verses from Lost Cauze, Paz and Crypt the Warchild.

After a few listens, I realized something was missing -- Stoupe is nowhere to be found on this record. Maybe that was his choice, but if it wasn't, I don't know how a group of emcees with access to arguably the best underground producer can even consider an album without him.

The absence of Stoupe and a handful of sub-par tracks keep this album from being perfect, but it's still a great listen and better than the vast majority of what passes for hip hop these days.

No doubt one of the best hip hop albums I listened to in 2006. Majority if not all of the album is battle raps, wid some tight metaphors. From the time I got it until now it's been in my CD changer and I don't intend to take it out anytime soon. Every single beat on this album is hot, if you doubt me check out 'Gorillaz'. I played it over five times when I first heard it. In my opinion the emcee that really stands out on this CD would definitely have to be Celph Titled but don't get me wrong ES comes real hard to, as well as Apathy. Vinnie Paz comes with his classic battle style, brilliant as usual but he didn't catch me as much as the others. Another great song is 'Into The Arms of Angels'. I love the way they use samples, and the types of samples they use are nothing like the ones you'd hear 9th Wonder using. These samples make the beats sound like a twist between alternative and rap, a real nice sound. This album is definitely worth checking out, add it to your collection and elevate ya mind.

I'm not really sure, what these guys are saying, let alone doing, only giving this album 1 star out of 5. i give this CD 4.5, But back to the review. When i put this in my CD player, at first i felt a little let down. Because of course there was such high expectations for the album, and when i noticed that Stoupe wasnt on the tracks i had some biased opinons about the other producers on it. But im telling you, after two-three plays of the CD, it grows on you like cancer. all of the emcees put their heart into it, and you can feel the heat on almost all of the tracks, i admit Esoteric's voice does get a little annoying but his raps are still nice, im not a hater, but that is only one ecmee. The dude that is saying Celph is wack and off beat couldn't be more wrong, first of all, Celph is a punchline rapper, which is a great thing because he is on tracks with a rapper like Plantary, and it blances out since Plan works more on flows. Celph makes you listen more closely to the song, because every line has a horrible/funny punch to it. Chief, comes with the real Biblical flows, just like on "Deer Hunter" on VBD, and Des Devious vioce sounds a lot like Kamachi's but you can tell them apart but their style of rapping. King Syze is like a Big Pun with the fast lyrical skills, Apathy also has great punch lines. Crypt,Plan and Reef have the steady NaS like flows, that are amazing. Faez One is only on one track, but he shines. And any one that says Vinnie is wack I hope you die right as those words come out of your mouth. Vinnie brings it all together. the anger in his voice is crazy, i swear i almost fell out of my chair when i heard his verse on "Feast Of The Wovles", and "King Among Kings." I believe that both those tracks should be on Violent By Design. and not to leave out the producers, some are from Europe. And this CD is a great way for them to get an American fan base,, because they really come thur, I mean they are not Stoupe or anything, but they tried their best to have the same type of horror beats. and i give them an A on the production. So go an buy it right now!!!!!! support real hip hop.

Great album. Good beats, production and amazing lyricism. Celph Titled and Esoteric really shine in my opinion, but hey, they are some of my favorite emcees. If you like Jedi Mind Tricks, OS, Reef or any of the other AOTP stuff you will like this record.

There is something about a Posse album. I think the idea has perhaps not been exploited enough. I remember the fisrt time hearing 36 Chambers. Before I even knew the names of Clan members. It was like an aural assault with so many different styles and personalities fighting for the mic.

In many ways this album reminds me of that. Light on concepts and heavy on battle raps, its like each artist knows they only have twelve bars to impress and they are determined to make the biggest impact before they pass on the MIC. "Battle Cry is the finest example of this as the dozen or so MC's try to outdo each other for 6 minutes.

The beats on the album provide the perfect backdrop for this lyrical assault. All the MC's represent but there are a few standouts; particularly Celph Titled who commands attention on the MIC with his voice & obliterates the MIC with his off the wall metaphors and breathtaking delivery. Chief Kamachi, Reef & Apathy are also on form here.

admittedly, having this many MC's on the album is its strength and also its biggest weakness. Some will enjoy it (like myself) while others will be turned off by the fact its all battle raps.

this disc is straight murda on wax...one hit after another ...i'm tellin you man this is the slap.....no need to skip trax just put it in and let it play

Where is STOUP?! How he didn't even make one track is ridiculous. He is by far on of the best beat makers ever and he should have made , in my opinion 12 of the 13 tracks. Still a good album though. What hip hop should be, this kind of music should be main stream on the radio and MTV....

Most know that AotP was consisted of 5 original members who released The Five Perfect Exertions EP, which was flawless. Ikon, Chief Kamachi, Esoteric, Bahamadia, and Virtuoso were these five mebers. Sadly only of the orignal members are now in the socalled "supergroup" Aotp. Ikon/vinnie is in there but his lyrical content has gone downhill. His verse on 5 perfect exertions outshines everything on his contribution to this album. Also some may be questino why the absence of stoupe. Its true he is possibly the best underground producer right now, and while being in the same studio as vinnie and aotp why not be apart of this album? Durring the Europe tour vinnie met mayny producers and wanted to try somthin different.

Only song i can actually listen to all the way through is Battle Cry. If you really wanna here Chief Kamachi and Reef shine get "Black Candles" album, its amazing. However back to this album. Apathy esoteric and chief are on point the entire album. I like listening to their verses but not entire songs. For those who dont know Virtuoso from his early AotP contribution check out song Beatdown. It features T-ruckus and Jedi mind trick (when jus allah was still a member. Big virt is an amzing lyricist and shuold still be assosiate dwith AotP Cept vinnie kicked him out for supporting jus allah at the "argument" period.


Dont get mne wrong this album is good its just not too appealing after first listen. One thing i didnt like most is the continuous song after song. This album needed at laest 1 or 2 interludes and craft things together. Any ways if you liked kamachi get "cult status" and "black candles" Definately check out some OLD aotp joints ittl raise ur eye a little more and bring some more background light to this album.