Angry Blackmen — the Chicago industrial hip-hop outfit of Quentin Branch and Brian Warren —  share new single/video, “Dead Men Tell No Lies,” featuring the New Jersey-based MC Fatboi Sharif. “Dead Men Tell No Lies” is another mutation in sound for the duo, featuring industrial sounds clashing violently with a blistering hook harkening to the end of time. The track features New Jersey’s Fatboi Sharif whose haunting verse adds to the hopeless scenery set by ABM throughout the album. It’s another energetic and haunting look into the minds of ABM, with lines like “Death is all around me smell the scent in my nostrils // Grim reaper glaring in my eyes looking hostile” contributing to the themes of nihilism, tragedy, and survival that are present throughout the record.

Branch and Warren have been stretching their arms and tapping into different sounds since 2014, with Warren eventually suggesting they join forces as a duo towards the end of 2016. The Legend of ABM–the duo’s third release for Deathbomb Arc, the progressive Philadelphia-based label known for its Avant and eclectic roster with releases from Death Grips, JPEGMAFIA, clipping., Julia Holter, U.S. Girls, and others–leaves no second wasted. The 11-track adventure, which features guest appearances from Fatboi Sharif,  Nordra, Skech185, and Abbie From Mars, is a 30-minute coming-of-age narrative centered around Black men navigating this wilderness known as North America. The record jumps straight to the point, utilizing catchy wordplay and spine-splitting production handled by Formants to present an expression of hip-hop not heard or seen before. It is their strongest work to date, but it’s no excursion for the weak. The two emcees provide a passionate yet introspective look at the world at large, their raw, pathos-infused poetry educating the listener of the pre-apocalyptic world we’re already living in. The Legend of ABM is relatable to anyone simply trying to survive.