ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE

An album which finds a band who’ve been through a lot finding their stride and searching for joy from within the bleak, ‘Roadrunner…’ sees Brockhampton silencing any of those who feared they might have lost their spark. It’s a record that - if it is truly one of their last - sees the lads going out with a bang.

As the band continues to map out their progression, they also showcase their deep knowledge of and reverence for rap as a whole.

During the first listen of the album, only a handful of its 13 tracks stood out but upon further exploration, ROADRUNNER suddenly blossomed into a sonic garden ripe with introspective brilliance.

ROADRUNNER still features some of the group’s trademark braggadocio; though, when it does, it’s mostly through slanted remarks and brief diversions from the tempest.

In what appears to be one of their final outings, Brockhampton is giving their listeners the best they have to offer, which makes anticipation for their next album even stronger.

If anything, ‘ROADRUNNER’ is the first taste of a collection of rappers who can stand alone with the same instinct with which they stand together – and that’s exciting. There is this overwhelming sense that the roadrunners are, at last, forging paths of their own.

Framed by ‘THE LIGHT’, the record is cohesive, punchy, and succinct. A force renewed, BROCKHAMPTON’s return comes just as the darkness that has surrounded our lives for 18 months begins to dissipate.

It was pretty great to hear the group branching out creatively for the majority of this record, and sounding really good doing it.

No matter how you feel about the music, it's hard to argue with a band who'll go through the worst and come out assuring all of us that "the light is worth the wait".

Throughout ROADRUNNER…, their psychedelic-saturated groupthink frequently coheres into daring and undeniably moving work, smoothing over the rough spots and small stumbles.

The hip-hop collective’s sixth album refocuses on melody and economy, resulting in the group’s most focused and impressive record yet.

Some of the best music can be raw while remaining widely accessible. Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine is Brockhampton’s best effort to balance these approaches; their hard times and brash raps go down more smoothly than ever.

BROCKHAMPTON come across as more focused than ever in this release but they let themselves down by treading too much old ground and failing to live up to the cohesive standards set by their previous work.

It’s a patchy effort to say the least, but the peaks are so high that the troughs are easy to ignore.