Kid Cudi - Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven (Album Review)

Kid Cudi is a pretty interesting artist. At least that's what I think sometimes, I've seen others think it, I think Cudi himself thinks that, and I guess that seems to be some kind of consensus. On the other hand some of the "interesting" things he's done aren't always that interesting and they don't always work or benefit him. I think Kid Cudi released a pretty strong debut album and a pretty strong sophomore album. Those are releases that I go back to and really enjoy. He found a nice balance in his sound. His last four projects haven't been as successful. Sure, they have their bright spots but starting with the WZRD album he did with Dot da Genius the wheels started kind of coming off the bus. Like I said he has moments and he definitely has singles here and there, but his releases started becoming uneven. I often times find myself not enjoying it more than I'm enjoying it. Satellite: The Journey To Mother Moon just never hit me at all and I just didn't find much to go back to after listening. Leading up to this new album Speedin' Bullet To Heaven I had kind of returned back to those first two albums as well as trying to give Indicud another shot to kind of get interested. After having some songs from that debut stuck in my head for a few days I was getting pretty amped for another Cudi album. After one listen I was not impressed, but I really wanted to review this one so I returned to it and continued to listen. So I'm finally coming through with a mildly late review for Speedin' Bullet To Heaven.

I mentioned this, but on first listen of Speedin' Bullet To Heaven I was not impressed. Quite honestly by the third or fourth listen I still wasn't impressed. It took a few listens for me to kind of find much of a silver lining with this one. A few more songs stuck out the more I listened to it. I can see what Cudi is trying to do. At least I think I do. He's taking his style and mixing it with 90s alternative music, mainly grunge. The guitars have that grunge sound and vibe captured decently sound wise and production wise. Unfortunately they stick out against the other instrumentation and don't mesh very well with it most of the time. The times they do mesh is nice. "Judgmental C**t" sounds pretty solid all the way around. The first couple of tracks also captured my attention, but as the album rolled on it was too long and draining of a listen to take in all at once. The guitar work comes off slightly amateurish in more than a few spots. There are moments when riffs really stand out and the vibe of the song is found, but I would have liked a lot more of those on a project this big. It's almost like this giant project could have been slimmed down to a pretty solid 5-7 song EP and might have come off kind of neat.

Another interesting and noteworthy wrinkle with this project is the incorporation of Mike Judge's Beavis And Butthead skits, which were created solely for the album. Now on this point I'll give Cudi some big credit. By creating this homage to 90s rock and adding these skits it really does make the project have the feel I think he was going for and it kind of helps solidify what this album is really about. I was really interested in hearing the skits. As a Beavis And Butthead fan it's always neat to see or hear them pop-up somewhere and I much prefer original skits to kind of licensing prerecorded skits or vocals and just kind of wedging them in. The inclusion of the skits is a neat nod to the nineties and any Beavis And Butthead fan will be stoked to hear them on the album.

I think what would have really helped this album is a producer, who is really familiar with the sound he was going for, to kind of help guide Cudi in the right direction. I also think he should have maybe gotten someone else to play guitar, drums, and bass on some tracks as well. It would have been cool to hear some of his sound inspirations guest on some tracks to help flesh them out and add some proficiency to the overall sound. It also would have added some grandeur to the project. Without some of that knowledge, understanding,  and proficiency the album is really hindered and hard to enjoy as a whole on a lot of levels.

In concept the album is a really neat idea. In execution it falls short in more than a few places. I don't know if there is much to come back to for a full listening experience, but like I said you could pick a few songs off this one for a playlist and enjoy them enough. I would have liked it if he had been able to hit it out of the park because concept wise it is a cool idea. It's always interesting to hear an artist push the boundaries whether or not he or she fails or succeeds. This is far better than someone like Lil Wayne's foray in the rock world, which left us with an album of really terrible songs. Cudi never hits that low. This album is mostly listenable and even kind of interesting, to a point. I just don't think it  hits the high marks Cudi was hoping for and it ends up leaving the listener wanting a little bit more cohesion, quality, and performance. It comes off as Nirvana fan worship at best and maybe that is exactly what Cudi ultimately wanted. The Cudi listeners on the other hand might not. I guess only time will tell if this is the ultimate grower album or if it's just another strange, left-of-the-path release from Cudi that doesn't hit the mark he intended to hit. I'm inclined to believe it will probably ultimately fall somewhere in the middle with his fans and towards the bottom of his discography with casual listeners.