Somethin Outta Nothin just dropped a major record into the underground. The Bastard Son, released this past Sunday, March 9th and officially on all major streaming platforms today, is S.O.N’s sophomore release, his first album since signing to Long Live Evil in 2023 and the follow up to the juggernaut that is Grant Us Eyes.
If you’re intimately familiar with Grant Us Eyes, you know it functions on two levels. First, it’s a dope little horrorcore rap record. The beats knock, the rhymes are aggressive and hit hard and the horror story telling is top tier. But the deeper you go with the record, the more there is to find, until you unlock the real messages of the whole thing. Grant Us Eyes took me well over a year to unlock for myself, largely because I didn’t realize there was anything to unlock at first. Once I did, it slowly unfolded until I saw the big picture.
The Bastard Son functions similarly. At face value, it’s an insanely dope horror rap record, but there are layers and layers of concepts and meaning under that spooky top layer. Since I’ve been sitting with the album for all of four days, it would do the record an injustice to try to review it in earnest right now. Instead, I want to share some first takeaways and impressions to send you off on your own journey with Umbra. Here are some of the things I’ve gathered from The Bastard Son in my limited time with it.
The Bastard Son begins where the Birthing Rituals left off
Over the course of 2024, S.O.N performed three live rituals at three separate events. The first at Camp Xul 4 in June, the second at the Gathering of the Juggalos in August and the third and final ritual taking place at Samhain Ceremony 4 in October. These rituals were intended to birth King Umbra into our world and give S.O.N the energy to finish The Bastard Son, the album. King Umbra, for the uninitiated, is The Bastard Son. They are one and the same. One constant during these ritual performances was S.O.N bellowing the name “Umbra!” between songs, summoning him into our world.
The Bastard Son, the album, opens with “Invocation”, an intro track in which S.O.N continues to bellow for Umbra and begs him to “Give them what they deserve”. Picking up where we left off at the live shows, the sound of Umbra’s weeping surrounds us as he comes alive with the album. King Umbra is finally here and we are ready for our journey.
Multiple Stories, Multiple Timelines, Multiple S.O.Ns
There are a number of skits throughout The Bastard Son, and as with many things within the album, they all seem to be both connected and not connected. S.O.N appears to play multiple characters in these skits, or at least multiple versions of himself on multiple timelines.
First, following the title track, we hear S.O.N warning some sort of hostage about an incoming storm and quoting George Orwell as he loads nine bullets into a revolver. The hostage pleads for mercy but S.O.N just laughs at him. This version of S.O.N appears in a few skits throughout the album, seemingly as some sort of deranged serial killer who believes his killing is God’s will. This dark S.O.N appears to narrate the songs that follow these skits, namely “Requiem” and “Tenebrous”. These songs both pick up immediately where the preceding skit leaves off. These songs are mean spirited and violent.
The other S.O.N we hear from throughout the album is much friendlier. He introduces himself politely to the listener, or traveler, and gives us a Tarot reading. He pulls three cards for us: The Hanged Man, The Three of Swords and, finally, Death. The songs that follow these first two skits are almost more like poems, while the final Tarot based song, “Death”, produced by Slasher Dave(the only song on the album not produced by Billy Obey of Alla Xul Elu) is easily the most musically optimistic sounding thing on the whole album. It feels like a burst of clarity after a long, dark journey.
A Masterclass in Doom Bap
As with Grant Us Eyes, the vast majority of The Bastard Son is produced by Billy Obey of Alla Xul Elu. Billy refers to his brand of production as “Doom Bap”, a play on his dark brand of “Boom Bap” hip hop.
“Boom Bap” is a style of hip hop production that originates in New York in the 80s and 90s. It is characterized by hard hitting drums, the “boom” being the bass drum and the “bap” being the snare. Boom Bap hip hop is typically sample based and sparse in instrumentation, laying a bed for the vocals to shine.
“Doom Bap” is basically the same, but wicked. Billy takes dark, ominous soundscapes full of tense musical motifs reminiscent of a horror movie score, and slaps hard drums on top of them. This is the perfect bed for S.O.N’s dark story telling and violent threats. Billy’s production has leveled up significantly since 2021’s Grant Us Eyes. The drums hit harder, the tracks are more dense and menacing, often with danceable grooves and thick bass lines hovering over the more ominous elements. Think Fritz The Cat’s work on Twiztid’s Mirror Mirror but snappier and less murky.
This is all a fancy way to say Billy crushed it. This album proves him to be as deadly on the beats as he is on the mic. Hopefully this album will lead people to appreciate his skills in this arena.
Elevated Horror
If you’ve heard Grant Us Eyes, you know S.O.N has a gift for story telling. Songs like “The Bridge” and especially “What’s That Noise” helped draw horror fans and old school juggalos to the project.
The Bastard Son has no shortage of these moments. Songs like “Where Fear Lives”, “Under My Skin”, “Tenebrous” and “The Rot” are filled with upsetting images and horror stories. From being served the head of his own mother for dinner, to being haunted by the voice of his dead wife, S.O.N writes himself into some truly disturbing scenarios on this album. If the ending of “What’s That Noise” was too much for you, proceed with caution. It gets dark.
To me, one of the most interesting things about S.O.N’s brand of horror rap is that the worst of the horrific things that take place on these tracks happen to the narrator. S.O.N does not play the more common serial killer, axe murderer, stabby guy in these songs, he plays the victim. He is the one being tortured by demons and constantly made to suffer. And on The Bastard Son, he puts himself into some of the most torturous scenarios.
We Deserve This
The back half of The Bastard Son begins with a song called “Absolution”, which features Legion Realm’s own Keagan Grimm and MJ Lovecraft. In the first verse of this song, S.O.N says, “I deserve this, curse my flesh and burn what's left”. The sentiment of getting what you deserve is very prominent on The Bastard Son. It’s crucial to the album and motivates many of it’s characters and even Umbra himself. But the seeds of this sentiment go back further than The Bastard Son.
The first time the phrase “We deserve this” was uttered by these boys on record was “Danse Macabre” from Keagan Grimm’s Gospell album. “Danse Macabre” featured The Bastard Son’s two main players, S.O.N and Billy Obey. The song became a staple of S.O.N’s live sets throughout 2024, including all three Umbra birthing rituals, with Keagan often joining him on stage to perform it.
In retrospect, the themes and vibe of “Danse Macabre” now feel like a precursor to the entire Bastard Son album and “Absolution” feels like a spiritual sequel to the original track. Both songs speak of endless, eternal pain and misery, apocalyptic destruction and ultimately, the idea that this is our doing and that we deserve this. These are the themes of much of The Bastard Son. These are also themes explored in the recently released Legion Realm Holiday Special, in which S.O.N and Keagan Grimm (as Felon Degenerate) are stuck in some sort of Hell, left to burn, celebrate Christmas and die repeatedly, forever, much like the characters in The Bastard Son.
All of this is just the tip of the iceberg. I guarantee I’ll come up with another 1,000 words and theories about The Bastard Son by the time you read this article. But, ultimately, what I think about it isn’t important.
This is an album that will mean something different to everyone who hears it. Don’t give a shit about the esoteric stuff and just want some spooky stories? S.O.N’s got you covered! Wanna spend the rest of your life trying to unravel the mystery of how many S.O.Ns exist on this record and how they interact? That’s in there for you too! Looking for spiritual guidance and the tools to become the best version of yourself, for yourself? It’s in there!
The Bastard Son is a dense text. It rewards and begs repeat listens. Take it in. Spend time with it. Let it get its hooks in you. You deserve it.