From this exact moment on, Chron Smith's discography becomes complicated. In 2010, Hell Razah ended up in hospital and only later was the last album he had recorded, "Heaven Razah", released in the same year. Then begins a long and difficult convalescence, after a few years the artist returns to release material.
In 2013 "Heaven Razah Pt. 2 (Living After Death)" aka "Living After Death" is released. The following year "Gates of Hell" is released in digital format. In the same period, Hell Razah plans to release a collaborative album entirely produced by Shroom under the name of the duo The Dutch (the reference is, in addition to the fact that the producer is Dutch, from the fact that New York was anciently founded by Dutch colonists and takes the name of New Amsterdam) and whose title would be "Music from the Heart". But the project is no longer released. "El Raziel" makes its way. Meanwhile, Shroom joins Razah's label, GGO & Hell Razah Music. At this time, Razah is still in rehab. In 2015 it's the turn of this album. Killah Priest of Sunz of Man, Scripture and Tanya Denise are credited as guests. The production credits are incomplete: the beats are provided by Ayatollah, Dr. G, St. Peter, Abstrakt Beats, Frank Trupiano, Get Large Productions and Ark of Covenant.
The album opens with an intro by the duo Thug Vatican, composed of the two Sunz Hell Razah & Killah Priest, who were originally supposed to release a collaborative album under that moniker. The guys trade lines over a sleek production, graceful piano, soulful vocal samples, guitar sailing in the background. "7000 Feet" sees Hell Razah alongside Scripture over a bouncy production, rough loop, screeching horns, sparse heavy downtempo drum, non-existent mixing, a dirty cut comes out. Abstrakt Beats is credited on the third pick and creates a nice beat to welcome Hell Razah and Automatik Greatness: boom bap, heavy uptempo sparse drum, vibrant bass in the background, good string loop. Ark of Covenant produces the next choice, "Spiritual Scarface". The soundscape opens with a gospel choir, then dry, heavy, uptempo drum, slow steady delivery by Hell Razah supported by a dissonant piano, solid bass, sweet strings in the background. "Genesis" has no production credits: the beat sounds cheap, there are loud loops, poor synths, poor midtempo drum machine. The track is over around the two minute mark but for some reason the rhythm goes on for another two minutes, something must have happened here.
Dr. G is the beatmaker for the next two tunes. "Angelic Capone" demands attention, also because it's an 11-minute track, it asks a lot from the average listener, but also from the die-hard Hell Razah fan. It starts very well with a sax sample suitable for a random Humphrey Bogart noir movie and continues maintaining that cinematic atmosphere while Hell Razah delivers throughout in spoken word, accompanied by the sax and the sound of vinyl crackling. That sax comes straight from Miles Davis, "Générique", for a film noir by Louis Malle, "Elevator to the Gallows" (1958). The author returns to rapping for a few moments, less than a minute, on a synthesized organ in "Dr. Razah", dusty uptempo drum, minimal rhythm: despite the brief contribution of the Sunz of Man rapper, the rhythm travels forward for another two minutes. St. Peter creates an ideal soundscape to welcome Tanya Denise who sings "Judas Loyalty", paving the way for the only verse of Hell Razah: solid bass, sparse uptempo drum, melancholic piano keys, great rhythm.
Get Large Productions provides a brilliant soundscape for "Pure Love": Hell Razah delivers in rapping, Tanya Denise is still on the hook, boom bap with dirty dusty drum, childish keyboards, the author sounds more at ease here than in most of his previous productions. "Cinematic Heaven" is perhaps the most beautiful beat on the album. Ayatollah behind the keyboards: velvety bass line, elegant piano keys, gorgeous strings, dusted cymbals, drumless track, entirely spoken word delivery by Hell Razah. In the second part also comes a light downtempo drum accompanied by a sustained silky bass line and a magnetic soul sample. This break ends in the finale, when the original rhythm returns. One of the few beats that deserved to breathe on its own for two minutes, fades after only fifteen seconds, if you think about it it's absurd.
Choice number eleven is "Throne of Raziel": sparse uptempo drum, solid bass line, trembling piano, lucid looped violins, introductory skit. Good beat by Frank Trupiano that takes a sample from The Main Ingredient's "That Ain't My Style", delivery by El Raziel with an appreciable execution. "Yesterday" begins with synths as thick as those of Moroder and that immediately thin out with the singing entrance of Tanya Denise in the track: grumpy drum, dry, rough, metallic, midtempo, disturbing loop, solid bass in the background, elegant piano keys, Razah performs only one verse and leaves room for the guest to close the track. The remaining two pieces also have no production credits. "Home of Thug Angels" boasts a loud beat, midtempo bare drums, guitar riffs that play above everything, slow rap by the author in this track, not rewarded by the mix, with a hook sung from an oriental sample. The album ends with "Walk with Raziel", a song in which Hell Razah presents himself with the new moniker Heaven Razah. Poor drums, soft bass, elegant piano keys, light synth line, spoken word delivery.
Chron Smith returns, in his own way, with this legitimate effort, released by his new label GGO and unfortunately hated by fans. The album is made during his convalescence and symbolizes his "rebirth", also changing moniker from Hell Razah to the angel El Raziel. With a little more attention than usual, you can understand where the boy recorded new material, where he took pieces discarded from the sessions of his last album and where he decides to take entire tracks already released and re-propose them under new rhythms and new titles, something that unfortunately will become a constant in his discography in the following years and it is also with regards to Sunz of Man. Overall, the album can be more useful for fans of the group and Razah than for the casual listener, 6/10.
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