Drixxo Lords have emerged as the Dark Horse of 2020, dropping an album in late December that would have certainly made my Top 20 of the Year if I had only discovered them earlier. Unimon Superstar is a uniquely strong set of songs from the new “HexD” scene, a synthesis of emo-rap and Drain Gang aesthetics with bit-crushed vocals and trance-inspired beats.

Drixxo Lords haven’t adopted this label as their own like genre frontrunners Fax Gang have, but they fit nicely alongside them for much of the same reasons—namely, the crystalline atmosphere paired with the cold detachment of the vocals. It’s an album as intoxicating as the last few Bladee albums, but with an even stronger sense of songcraft.

The standout for me on this album is “Catacombs 2007.” Like My Bloody Valentine before them, MokshaDripp has altered their vocals to the point where they just function as another instrument in the mix. Over a pulsating, almost EDM-inspired beat, their vocals link with soft synth pads to create this thick cloak of reverb over the track. It’s a sharp contrast that somehow fits together perfectly.

Emo-rap and Drain-style music have always fascinated me because of how they insist on painting statements of vulnerability in the gaudiest aesthetics imaginable. Drixxolords are no strangers to this, but to their credit, this song shows that they know perfectly well how to live with that contradiction. “Catacombs 2007” is a blueprint for a whole new sound, and I can’t wait to hear more HexD artists carry this through into 2021.