Abel & Sef - Iceland (LP)

Idealism can be fun too. The two rappers who join forces in Iceland are already known for their radical music and politics: Sef especially since his last album, Ik Zou Voor Veel Kunnen Die Maar Niet Voor Een Vlag ; Abel mainly as the frontman of the activist punk band Hang Youth. In Iceland, the two very different styles of the two pleasantly get in each other's way. Faisal's schizophrenic production also keeps things on edge: sometimes a ballad with a calm sea in the background, sometimes screaming sirens and creaking, atonal beats. Lyrically, Abel and Sef seem to be made for each other: they sing about a political system that is destroying the Netherlands, sometimes with deep metaphors, sometimes quite directly. 'We're going to do it,' they promise us, 'save the whole world.' They are two scorpions in a bottle; two gladiators who should be fighting each other, but still decide to attack the emperor.