Monopoly by Das SPEZIAL

Prepare for Das Spezial to flip the script yet again with another five tracks of bold songwriting and restless sonic exploration. Shahab Notghi's creative juggernaut has never paid much heed to limitation, drawing wildly talented players, dreamers and visionaries into its audio-visual vortex with an electrical charge that could light up a main stage and enough teeth to bite a chunk out of the underground.

The Kids EP series has been the proving ground for the SPEZIAL sound, as Notghi and close collaborators Stew Jackson and Ewan Pearson pool their legendary talents as musicians, producers and engineers into a freewheeling output that touches on brooding electronics and grandiose guitars alike, set to barbed songwriting and striking vocals from bright new talents.

On this occasion the project is bolstered by the addition of Drew Morgan — a highly accomplished composer and arranger who weaves cello and string arrangements throughout Kids #3. A Royal Academy of Music alumni with experience working on freewheeling improv and blockbuster video game soundtracks alike, Morgan's expertise and expression have sent this new EP into thrilling, unknowable new territory.

Predicting the path of the SPEZIAL machine is always a fools errand. On this third instalment, 'Death To Diet' makes that abundantly clear in an explosive declaration of punk-rock snarl and street-level diatribes loaded with a nihilistic 21st Century malaise from a dead-eyed poet shirking the spotlight. It's not Das Spezial as we've heard it so far, but it bristles with the same wild-eyed energy that has charged all their output to date.

'Pissing In The Wind' follows up sharp with a fusion of krautrock propulsion and indie-rock intrigue, shot through with yet more acerbic observations from our unknown anti-poet.

Maintaining the pressure and heralding another vital chapter in the SPEZIAL story is Reign MC, the South Coast bars-man who sets 'Blood Diamond' alight. Yet again the sonic possibilities get flung into far reaches as his devastating flow bends and flexes over a visceral, avant grade riff on the grime blueprint.

There's still space for the mellower side of SPEZIAL too, though, in the spine-tingling balladry and soaring, orchestral crescendo of 'Monopoly'. Meanwhile 'Pine Falling' weaves its own arresting tale of plaintive piano and lilting strings, guided by the finest slithers of electronic embellishments.

It's a visceral ride whichever extreme Notghi and his collaborators are exploring, as Das Spezial once again adheres to the age old adage that the only constant is change.

Das Spezial is a bold collective of artists crafting genre-defying music that challenges norms and reshapes the UK independent music scene.

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