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- Verified Buyer
Black Magic is amazing.I first heard Swollen at a concert in Vancouver, while driving through on a snowboard road trip from Alaska to Tahoe in '99, and have been a fan ever since. Black Magic brings me back to that day, jumping in a crowd, completely blown away by a group I'd never heard of. The album captures the energy and spirit of Swollen Members' live shows (among the best you'll ever see) and some how translates that vibe and spits it out from car speakers, home stereos, and mp3 players.So far ever single person I've played a couple of tracks for has gone out and bought the album; from the guys that say "Swollen who? Man that sounds awesome," to the ones that say "I had no idea there was a new SM album out," Black Magic is turning heads. By far the tightest production values of any of SM release, Prev and Mad are on point the entire album, and Rob has put together his finest beats yet. While the guest appearances are great, they don't take the spotlight away from the boys - a hard to accomplish feat when you've got the likes of Ghostface, and Ev onboard.I find myself taking the long way to work, just to get a couple extra beats in my car stereo before I have to switch to the iPod for work, all while grinning like an idiot because I've got the new Swollen, and it's everything I'd hoped it would be; two days later and it's still giving me goosebumps.
