Dagger Mouth is the sixth studio album by Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members. It was released on April 12, 2011, by Battle Axe Records and Suburban Noize Records. The album is produced by Rob The Viking, Aspect and DJ Corbett, and features a lone guest appearance from Saigon on the remix of his own song "Bring Me Down" from The Greatest Story Never Told. The album debuted at number 15 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. The album was nominated for Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2012. It won Rap/Hip-Hop Recording of the Year at the 2012 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Critical reception
Alex Henderson of AllMusic claimed the album contained "plenty of hedonism and hip-hop braggadocio, but there is also an abundance of sobering introspection". He said sometimes "Dagger Mouth becomes dark-humored, but other times, the album is just plain dark" and called the production "funky" and "moody".
Steve Juon of RapReviews expressed "like a classic Wes Craven film the moments of depravity and insanity are measured with a good dose of humor and wit to make them that much more palatable. You can't simply lump a Swollen Members album into the overabused and misused horrorcore cliche though, because there’s lyricism and production values here going well beyond mindless violence."
Francois Marchand of Vancouver Sun stated "Hendriks and Bunting spit rhymes about hitting rock bottom ("The Shining"), anxiety disorders ("Chemical Imbalance") and redemption ("Fresh Air"), blurring the lines between reality, horror movies and comic books over Hooper's nightmarish soundscapes and beats."
Track listing
Personnel Shane "Madchild" Bunting – vocals (tracks: 1–4, 6–16), executive producer, art direction Kiley "Prevail" Hendriks – vocals (tracks: 1–4, 6, 7, 9–16) Robin "Rob The Viking" Hooper – producer (tracks: 1, 3–10, 12–15), co-producer (tracks: 2, 11), recording, art direction Brian "Saigon" Carenard – vocals (track 16) Francisco Chacon – scratches (track 3) Mike Kumagai – additional piano (track 7), additional drum programming (track 9), guitar (track 12), mixing "DJ Itchy Ron" Mejia – scratches (track 15) Reece "Aspect" Zazulak – producer (tracks: 2, 11) Dustin Corbett – producer (track 16) Tom Baker – mastering Kevin Zinger – executive producer, management Brad "Daddy X" Xavier – executive producer Nick The Russian – art direction, design Raymond Brown – artwork, additional design Mike Cockburn – photography Ivory Daniel – management Violet Brown – management
Charts Chart (2011) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard) 15US Top Rap Albums (Billboard) 18US Independent Albums (Billboard) 41US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) 3US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard) 179
References
External links