As Wu-Tang robed New York in the myths and atmosphere of the kung-fu movies worshipped by RZA, so Cannibal Ox’s 2001 debut The Cold Vein reimagined the Big Apple through the lens of their beloved superhero comics: Gothamesque and rotten to its core, its denizens like pigeons dreaming of rebirth as righteous, metallic-winged phoenixes. Only a year or so after that poignant and Jim Steranko-inspired psychedelic opus, the group fell silent. But in comic books No-one Ever Really Dies, and so the duo are now resurrected, with the long-awaited sequel Blade of the Ronin in tow.
Before we witness the rebirth, however, a few tracks from their hypeman Double AB, a young man with a Scrappy-Doo vibe who offers a hackneyed “in England you call cookies ‘biscuits’!” routine that wins laughs, and a badly misjudged radicalism-gone-wrong fantasy with a sub-Shyamalan twist that draws boos. The doomy opening notes of Cannibal Ox’s signature track Iron Galaxy thankfully restore momentum, its strobing Moroder synths and cavernous break the bedrock for tales of dead fathers and unwanted children. No party banger, its bleak power nevertheless sets heads nodding, the duo’s rhymes deep and pungent.
More Cold Vein classics follow: vivid hip-hop-as-salvation homily B-Boy Alpha, the lysergic battle-rap of Raspberry Fields. The iridescent beats – vintage work by Run the Jewels’ El-P – haven’t lost their ability to thrill, and while MC Vordul’s thousand-yard stare suggests he’s only recently returned from a UFO abduction, partner Vast Aire (Buddha in a baseball cap, I-Ching tattooed on his forearm) is animated enough for the both of them, every line delivered with a charismatic and-let-me-tell-you-this verve.
Tracks from Blade of the Ronin prove that, while it’s not The Cold Vein’s equal, it’s no Phantom Menace either: Iron Rose and Harlem Knights both possessing the future-shock chill, the Blade Runner haunt of yore. But it’s the Cold Vein material that hits hardest, its mordant sci-fi visions and flashes of vulnerability and tragedy remaining a high point in hip-hop storytelling. If Cannibal Ox have yet to repeat its magic, tonight reminds us that few other artists have either.
