One of my long time favorite artists, Jay Tholen, has switched gears again, shifting from his chiptune adventure Danny’s Incredible 8 Bit Voyage to a new album he describes as an “AVANT-POP, PROG-HOP ONSLAUGHT OF RIGHTEOUS RAGE”

The Usurper Must Die!!! is a short EP filled with a cavalcade of genres, moods, and sounds. The album kicks off with the antiquated musical turned grunge techno sounds of An Apocalyptic Toast. This song slowly shifts into Broadhead Fillmore Comes to Town. A haunting yet excitedly sung tune that keeps a catchy tune even as the narrator of the songs emotions shift from excitement to darkness through to frustration and acceptance.

We take a break after the last emotionally tiring song with the soft instrumental We’re Just Kids, We’re Just Children followed by the softly sung tune That’s Not You, which breezes along a glitchy acoustic track. We are then introduced to the hip hop style beat of Whoever, Really!.

Throughout the album, even with all the shifting moods and styles, Jay Tholen brings a cohesive story along through the eight short songs, which culminates in the final track Bezalel’s Song. We are met with a foreboding piano movement that slowly fades into a reprise of voices rising and rising, then like everything else, fades away in a wash of anachronistic sounds and songs.

This album isn’t chiptunes and as such there is no definitive connection to video games with this album, but this is an amazing listen to fans of multiple genres and styles, and of interesting song writing. You can grab the album free over at jaytholen.net. He also mentions that he does have a new chiptune album in the works though, and of course I am highly excited for that as well!

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