7/10

On his second studio album 'Lycoris Radiata', g hao sounds far less interested in simply proving his influences than showing us what he has learned from them. Inspired heavily by the raw, shadowy energy of Freddie Dredd’s earlier work, the record takes that foundation and bends it into something more personal, particularly during its closing stretch.

It's the final three tracks of ‘BORN IN HELL’, ‘HOT HELL’ and ‘THRU DIS HELL’ that give 'Lycoris Radiata' its strongest sense of identity. Repeating “HELL” across the titles could easily feel like surface-level imagery, but within the album it gradually becomes something closer to an emotional marker. Each song feels like another stage of the same descent, pushing further into the darker, more conflicted side of g hao’s writing.

‘BORN IN HELL’ establishes that atmosphere with a sense of inevitability, while ‘HOT HELL’ keeps the pressure rising through a more immediate, aggressive energy. However, by the time ‘THRU DIS HELL’ arrives, the mood begins to shift. Instead of just extending the darkness, the closing track feels more reflective, as though the album has finally reached the point where all that intensity can be examined from a distance.

So despite being the closing track, that makes ‘THRU DIS HELL’ the real centrepiece of the album. Sweet guitar lines introduce a more exposed quality, while the acapella passages leave g hao with far less to hide behind. After an album filled with heavy atmosphere and underground hip-hop grit, those moments of openness land particularly well, giving the finale a sense of release without forcing it towards an overly neat resolution.

Elsewhere, collaborators including LilHustle, PRETTY NICKY, Scrapper, Lunaughty and LITTLE 4N help widen the record’s palette, while ‘DEVIL BOY’ provides a concise, memorable interlude that highlights g hao’s instinct for atmosphere.

But 'Lycoris Radiata' ultimately reveals most about its creator when it reaches those final three songs. Dark, restless and increasingly vulnerable, they turn the album from a tribute to a formative sound into something far more individual. And by the closing moments, g hao is finally beginning to carve out a world that feels distinctly his own.