This album was released on June 6th this year. I actually don’t know much about who tau is. Prior to listening to this latest project, I’d only heard an EP with klwn cat called CYCLEBREAKER, as well as a feature on Nonazz’s collaborative album with LUNAR. I thought the EP was solid, but this latest album here is honestly a massive step up in my opinion. It’s only 10 tracks and 24 minutes, but it hits really hard. I had hopes that I would enjoy it more than CYCLEBREAKER, and it thankfully did not disappoint at all.

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The project opens with splitting hairs, and this was actually my least favorite song on my first listen of the album. However, it has grown on me a lot. This song is a really dope introduction, and the jazzy, avant-garde soundscape sounds cool as hell. The two verses from tau here are great too.

Another track left unfinished
He think that it's light work until the flash hit him
Cover my back, the memories stab
From empty to genesis, tell me what happened before that
No luck with the questions I'm having to ask
Fuck what I said, it's no fun using the front of my head
Hit the ledge and I plummet to death, cut me some slack 
One rope, it's the naught that I dread over my back 
Sleep paralysis, hover above my covetous ashes
Pull me up, I'm tryna see past the maximus
The role I was casted don't act
It's all natural, I'm cut from space-time's fabric

I like that “naught/knot” double entendre. The first verse is nice, but the second verse is even better. This shit is awesome.

I'll live by whatever means to the end
Sitting on the fence getting pulled from both legs
People need to know the keycode is in they heads
Close your eyes to see the most believable projections
Blessings that I keep close need no correction
The reaper won't sow me 'til he show me some affection

It’s a really cool song overall. Like I said, it grew on me. I always liked it to some extent, but I think it’s great now.

Track 2 is called non-euclidean love, and it’s easily one of my favorites on the album. Maybe my number one favorite. The beat here feels a lot more melodic than that of the preceding track, and the drums give me the coveted involuntary head nod. I really love the introductory quatrain.

It's all love, but if I pour my heart out too much I might lose blood
Started out with clues and jumped to conclusions
Proofless, what use is so called truth that stands unrefuted
You know how I do it

He killed this shit. The full verse is fire. I love the closing couplet.

God isn't dead, the concept is living proof
Arm, leg, leg, arm, head you owe existence to

There’s nothing about this song that I take issue with. I mean, maybe it could’ve been a little longer. It doesn’t even feel undercooked despite its brevity though. I think it’s dope as hell.

The title track, matters of substance, has a much lighter instrumental than those of the preceding couple songs. It’s probably my least favorite beat up to this point on the record, but I still think it’s pretty good. The verse from tau is what makes this song stand out so much to me though. The lyricism here is excellent.

As the localized multiplies, only prize that I can see is division
At times I needed to vocalize my beliefs instead of submitting
Opening closed blinds of every deep-nested image
Let the existential C-section finish
Won’t quell the genesis, proximates live in the interim
You can’t dwell on negatives, you gotta learn to live with them

This is tied with track 8 as the shortest song on the album; it’s just over a minute and a half long. Even though I don’t love the beat as much as some of the others, I think the song’s pretty great. tau killed it.

Track 4 is another highlight called water supply. This might be my favorite song on the album. I love the kind of cloudy instrumental, and tau’s verse is fantastic. The lyrics are super cool, and his flow sounds great.

Alien scientists sight the Earth like “we might’ve discovered life”
Blue marble won't sell for more than the price of 10 megabytes
Oh fuck, we really worth nothing, had to learn loving just to spite it
Thought thinking was enough, but it turns to nothing if I don't write it
The devil walks through doors, come to your front porch uninvited
Hold it up to the torchlight, get the force right when you vice grip

This is another very short song, so there’s really only time for one verse. It’s awesome though. There are a lot of really cool lines.

Whoever the coup arrests, I'll consider that due justice
Who could fool the destitute lacking foodstuff in they stomachs
Nothing can come between us except what's coming
Cut the heartstrings, disjunction

The song’s dope as hell, and it transitions into the following track really nicely.

Track 5 is called roanoke, and it features shemar. The production is pretty cool, but it’s really the lyricism from MCs that makes this song stand out to me. The opening verse from tau is fire.

I'ma make the tea kettle whine
For each and every metal I received from the mine
Those shallow achievements you won't find in no real diamond
Full metal alchemist, I'll eat that stone and feel alive again

The second verse from shemar is really nice too. shemar is definitely one of the most exciting up-and-coming artists in the underground, and he did not disappoint with his performance here. The song’s great.

The following track is called derivation of constants, and it features Mourning Run. This is the longest song on the album, clocking in at 3 minutes and 44 seconds. It’s another contender for my favorite track on the project. I love the celestial production, and Mourning Run has my favorite feature on the album.

Ears ringing, for the love of God, say something
I know the day coming, nothing you could take from him
I hold the feeling in my stomach, I don't stray from it
Can't you hear the war drones knock, far away buzzing
I don't wanna wait, knocking at the gate
Caught between a thoughtless locomotive and a rock you couldn't break
In the light of constellations sitting softly on the lake
The star in my heart brought me to the fate

I’d honestly go as far as to say that it’s one of my favorite features of 2025 so far. The verse from tau is fire too though.

The impetus left the dissidents impotent
I kept distance from hope in the face of imminence
Pass notes through different planes of existence 
The throats of those killers aren't supposed to feign innocence
The boy was never joking, there's no kidding
Behold the truth, a cold open, know the proof ain't scripted
A coin flip to choose the doom most fitting
As soon as the blues hit, pale skin ooze crimson

The instrumental breakdown at the end is the icing on the cake. The whole track is really awesome. Again, it’s a definite highlight on the album for me.

Track 7 is called amplitude, and it’s another one of the longer tracks on the project. The production maintains the kind of spacey, cloudy atmosphere that the preceding material established. I really like how the drums cease for the second verse. Once again, the lyricism is really goddamn cool here.

All those nights that I lie in bed and let the pen hit the loose leaf
Wouldn't lose sleep, but in the end I met a new me
False deduction led me to believe it was the best kept secret remedy
I know no excess is worth your energy
But I don't live what I think, enslaved left to vegetate in my appetitive element 
Too many references might be on the nose, but I'm getting em off my chest and shit
Misrepresented by every sentence
I owe less than a sentiment, so don't expect any lessons
But I'll stay heavy headed 'til the day that I'm put to rest
I'd prefer for my corpse to be hydrodipped in the cement next to the fence I never leapt
To this day I'm hexed to remain less
Gotta change ways 'fore I face death

The song’s really dope.

Track 8 is an interlude called one substance. I have no idea who that is speaking here, but he’s gettin’ pretty philosophical, as it were. I really dig the drumless, almost ambient-sounding instrumental in the background. The track has kind of an abrupt ending, making for a really cool transition into the following track. It’s a cool interlude. I like it.

The penultimate track is called method of difference, and it features Nonazz. The production here feels relatively glitchy while still being pretty melodic. I like it a lot. The opening verse from tau is fire too.

Acausal effects unaccepted by purely empirical proponents
Baconian science can't tell us what came before this
Pure space is amorphous
Who brought shape to the formless and gave way to innate ordinance
I ache for explanation, don't downplay me with placations
You wont be able to alienate the foreign
Morbid truth pouring in, take your faith-based worldview for a spin
I mean, yo, whatever wakes you up in the morning

I think tau had the best verse on this song, but Nonazz did his thing too. This track isn’t as great to me as most of the others, but I do still think it’s very good.

The closing track is called abraxas, and it’s got a really awesome instrumental. The percussion reminds me of the drums on Earl Sweatshirt‘s classic Grief single. This is another track that grew on me a lot. I think it’s another contender for the best track on the project. The beat is fire, and tau killed it.

Rode the mare through the land of stonemen and stared at Medusa’s forehead
I'm wrapping chords around you like a corset, can’t handle the tech, you an oldhead
Only me and the lord get it; I forgo then forget, the coarse road is more so authentic
Thoughts in limbo, bars over your head, poor soul don’t sweat it

The one nitpick I have is that I don’t necessarily think this track wrapped the album up in the most satisfying way. The song’s fire, but it just kinda stops, and then the album’s over. This shit is still dope as hell though. I love it.

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^{This album is great. I think it’s a big leap in quality from the CYCLEBREAKER EP, and a great entry point for new listeners. The production is spacey, experimental, and at times jazzy. The lyricism throughout this entire project is pretty goddamn awesome, from both tau and the features. There’s really not anything about this project that I had a major issue with. I mean, it’s very brief, but it doesn’t feel undercooked or skeletal to my ears. I’d actually go so far as to say that this is one of the best albums I’ve heard so far in 2025. If you’re into abstract rapping and production I definitely think this is an album you need to hear. Even the album cover is cool to me. I loved this record. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments. I think it’s really dope.}

Favorite Song: water supply
Least Favorite Song: method of difference