90/100

Fusing light and darkness, embodying emotions and brutality, integrating the lyrics from a love ballad and the punch of a festival destroyer, ‘Gold (Stupid Love)’ by bass music kingpin Excision, and everyone’s favorite melodic champion Illenium has been released.

Excision and Illenium have made sure that no one on the Internet could have any chance of getting a snippet from the song before its official release. Its release has been teased for quite some time, considering Illenium started testing the dubstep tune back during his Awake Tour – more than 8 months ago. It’s without a doubt one of the most awaited songs of the year, the most anticipated dubstep track for sure – and remember, Dubstep is king in the US.

The hype for this song has reached unimaginable heights. So, as I always like to say, was it worth the wait?

We are looking at a crossover between the metallic, merciless, and firepower-styled dubstep from Excision, arguably the biggest dubstep act of the past few years; and the melodic bass from Illenium, driven by uplifting, organic chords, and ethereal vocals chanting about love. Both have ventured in each other territory a handful of times, thus making the result all the more interesting on paper.

With this background in mind, let’s break the song down in usual Allax’s Observatory fashion: starting from the first note, until the last second.

Jeff and Nick work their rock influences in the introduction of Shallows’ vocal, who presents the scenario of a person meditating about her love feelings for someone, saying that kick those emotions gave her was as precious as gold. Although the song theme doesn’t bring absolutely anything new to the table, the vocals are well executed, and incredibly manage to stand out even when compared to other Illenium hymns such as ‘Lost‘ or ‘Needed You‘. Those powerful drums deserve an appreciation, as they make you remember this is still a song coming from a Red Hot Chili Pepper fan, and a metal head.

The first drop is backed up by Shallows’ introspective riff, and it strikes with direct bass jabs, making for an overall pleasant neck-breaking session. Here it is though, the dubstep T-Rex roar. It certainly isn’t the most sophisticated bomb from ‘The Paradox’ man, but overall the first half of the song is coordinated by an impeccable balance of elements from both.

The second break is where Shallows’ vocal really shines, and accompanied by that ‘We Will Rock You’ motiv in the background, I personally pale at the vision of how massive this tune could be if properly executed on a live setting. Suddenly, Excision takes the complete lead and strikes again, with the same drop from early on, but switching the order so to leave Illenium the chance to wrap up the single just as it started: in a glorious mixture of melody and bass.

The little cherry on top of the cake is a kind acoustic guitar ending chords that, if you ask me, could have been way longer.

What does save this song from being just a more powerful edition of ‘Don’t Give Up On Me‘?

The answer is props to Shallows and shoutout to Nick and Jeff for their alignments of smaller elements in the breaks.

The complaints this song received were all about how the main lyrical theme of the song struggles to stand when paired with such a heavy Excision approach. To get objective, how well ‘Gold’ express its feelings-based theme is a matter of taste and interpretation. The brutality in the drops can be translated into a wonderful representation of the main idea: the idea of love being a coin, with a heavenly side, and an obscure, rage-filled side.

‘Gold’ will undoubtedly go down in history as that eternally memorable time when Excision and Illenium teamed up for the most hyped collaboration of 2018, and just the fact that my own review is as long and detailed is a proof of the importance of the artistic statement these two dubstep colossi made on Tuesday the 17th. The rating is just a number.

My best compliments though, go to the singer, Shallows, for making the single all the more unforgettable, and for cutting the noise of all the numerous female vocal dubstep releases by Illenium.

In the end, was the wait worth it?
Hell yeah, it was.

Keep an eye on Excision’s socials for the reveal of his upcoming 2018 album, and his TWO near music festivals Bass Canyon in George, WA, and Lost Lands in Thornville, OH. Jeff Abel is showing no sign of slowing down in his ascension as the modern supreme bass music sovereign.

Oh, by the way… that cover is too fire.

BONUS

‘Gold (Stupid Love)’ is an important song for Illenium in multiple senses. Nick has taken a different direction in his latest productions for 2018 by releasing 3 dark, aggressive dubstep songs mainly used for the harder tone of his live shows. And now that the second half of the year is already kicking in, we find an Illenium in a spot where has never been: without unreleased music – excluding his many Live VIPs.

Illenium has been propelling his love and relationships-focused thematics his whole career so far, with his latest album ‘Awake’ being entirely about phases of an ending love relationship. In the past, though, he has blessed us with masterworks about deeper thematics, such as his magnificent opus about death, ‘Afterlife’.

There is evidence of his growing desire of expanding his messages array: in an interview from September, he stated how he wanted to open up more on his life story and his musical themes, channeling more of his early influences in his future music.

Is this the turning point?
Is Illenium finally going to tell us a different story? Is this the long-awaited moment in his career to grow as a storyteller?

Personally, I’m dying to listen to that impeccable sound design fused with riffs about something deeper about life; much like what Porter – one of his biggest inspirations ever – did with ‘Worlds’.

This is just a personal desire, more than a self-standing theory. Nick has infinite potential, it’s up to him to show the world what he is truly capable of.

You can listen to “Gold (Stupid Love)” here:

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