The moment I saw that Cosmotropia de Xam's side project \\\^◊^/// released a new EP, I was hyped - his two Hoüse Öv Drüg mixtapes are incredible and still hold up, but I'm not fully sold on "Bird Of Prey". While there's a thin veil of cohesion somewhere in there, the EP ultimately sounds like a bunch of random tracks thrown together. Each one is interesting on its own, but when listened to together, they just come off as an odd mix. The opening track felt like it dragged on forever. The dragged ballad "∂ ∏ ∑ ƒ" sounds like something taken from a zombie rave mixtape, yet here it's wedged between two spooky ambient soundscapes. I like all the creepy elements of the EP (with "Δ Ω" being my favourite track), but the deconstructed industrial/nu-metal elements feel a bit off for this particular project. Personally, I think they'd make more sense under a different alias. My last moan will be the AI cover artwork - in 2023 this could pass as novelty, now it just looks bad.
Digital version is available here. There are CD copies here. Stream below.