We All Fall Down

Audio Mixer: Robert Rebeck.
Recording information: Chapman Recording; The Disc Ltd. Recording Studio.
Prozak admits he's been burdened with the "thinks a lot" curse on "Audio Barricade," a key cut that helps explain why We All Fall Down is such a sour album, but that title and the cover artwork point to a bad outlook toward society, so expect politics and big business as the uneasy topics this time. The introspection of his 2012 effort Paranormal is still here, although there are more outward-reaching lyrics now, as "Don't believe the lies you've been told" is the chant that drives "Divided We Stand." On the title track, the individuals who make up the human parade that walks past the Saginaw, Michigan MC's window are "like raindrops on brick walls/Simply fade away, into the memories of yesterday," while "Fading Away" observes this same slow decay. "Just Like Nothing" finds mankind "slowly sinking in the ocean of reality," but these downward spirals just might be turned around if people wake up, as tracks like "Three Two One" and "Vendetta" punch holes in the darkness, fully expecting light to bleed out. The radio-minded power-rap ballad "Before We Say Good Bye" brings the album to a hopeful close, and while it's not nearly as strong as the underground cuts, Prozak remains the Strange Music label's level-headed anchor, offering a more approachable, everyman version of Tech N9ne's flashy fiend or Krizz Kaliko's demonic rebel style. ~ David Jeffries