Album Review: Dialectrix - The Cold Light Of Day

This is Dialectrix's third solo album. It's his sixth full length release if you throw in two Down Under Beats Crew records and Gully Platoon's 2009 debut. His productivity is laudable and we've heard a lot from him in the last few years. But the most refreshing thing about The Cold Light Of Day is, despite our familiarity, how much more there is to learn about D-Trix.

He's become a father since 2010's Audio Projectile. On Fire In The Blood we learn that our host is “taking on slavery in order just to feed (his) son”. We also find he's “26 and still on a minimum wage”. Thankfully Dialectrix is also “destroying other rappers when (he) spit(s) on a stage”. It's disarming stuff: confident and humble, worldly but still optimistic. The album's most striking autobiographical moment is almost an afterthought hidden in a complex internal rhyme scheme. As a student, Dialectrix's intelligence was not obvious to those around him and – after an exam was marked – he explains, “all my teachers thought I cheated when I came first”. No One Believed is the track. The title tells the story.

Autobiography aside, this album is a triumph. Style is the highlight. It opens with D-Trix spitting fire over a makeshift beat: “my style is supreme and you will get crushed”. There's a magnificent, woozy hook; a surprising rap from verse from DJ 2Buck; and a P Smurf tour de force. Plutonic Lab, who made all the beats here, also deserves a mention. A drummer at heart, he has the dynamism and crispness to provide our host with the backdrops he needs. Six full length releases and we're left wanting more? Bring on number seven.