The story of Sematary, and the growing powerhouse that is Haunted Mound.
Half of the time I listen to any album from the rapper collective and label Haunted Mound, it's hard to discern if I am listening to a serious project or the ramblings of a 20-year-old with the mental age of a 12-year-old. But that's exactly why I love Haunted Mound.
Ever since Chief Keef (aka Sosa) revolutionized the hip-hop industry with Finally Rich in 2012, a separate branch of hyper-produced, gritty, trap-centric hip-hop was introduced under the brand of drill. Haunted Mound approaches this genre from the perspective of hyper-pop and cloud rap, delivering their own take on the genre.
However, this doesn't do much to explain what Haunted Mound truly is, as while Chief Keef may have started the drill movement, Haunted Mound took the concept and ran with it, creating something new altogether.
Grave House: Not So Humble Beginnings
Haunted Mound is a record label officially comprised of eight members: the prolific and self-proclaimed leader Sematary; producers Oscar18, Grimoire, Snuffer, and Gonerville; rappers Hackle and Turnabout; and graphic artist Buckshot. Since 2019, Haunted Mound has released twelve full-length albums, garnering a respectable number of hardcore fans.
Haunted Mound's beginnings, however, were less complex. Originally started by Sematary and fellow rapper/producer Ghost Mountain, Haunted Mound made their debut in August of 2019 with their breakout mixtape Grave House. At this time, Sematary was just 19 years old, and the mixtape feels appropriately amateur.
Grave House might not have had the experience and consistency of Sematary's later releases, but it is no less extraordinary and introduces listeners perfectly to Haunted Mound's distinct style of trap. The production takes influence from cloud rappers such as Yung Lean, with varying levels of whitewashed noise swamping the slow, lurching trap beats. But while Yung Lean and other cloud rappers are known for their loose, laid-back aesthetic; Grave House is loud, disconcerting, and annoying. Sematary whines over the beats with no regard to rhythm or tone, deriving an aesthetic similar to hyper-pop acts such as 100 gecs or Black Dresses.
Lyrically, Sematary seems to have a cynical outlook on the world, himself particularly, but approaches this topic with an attitude of carelessness: preferring to accept his fate than take action. The lyrics consistently reference real-world tragedies, like in the repetitive and hypnotic Nevada, where the chorus repeats the words "cutter in Nevada". This refers to the teenage murder story of a young girl using a boxcutter to stab a fellow classmate to death. Her internet nickname 'Nevada-tan' comes from a famous picture of the girl wearing a University of Nevada sweatshirt.
There is a disturbing, primal obsession with murder in Grave House, and as the songs begin to blur into an incomprehensible mess of abuse, hysteria, and disorientating noise, you quickly realize there is no escape. The final track, Broken Angel Hospital, illustrates the final moments of the now husk of a human living at an asylum, and since his pension for death is unable to be satisfied any longer, he turns to himself to nourish his desires, ultimately killing himself.
Rainbow Bridge: Discovering Something New
While it has only been three years since the release of the initial Rainbow Bridge mixtape, the series has established itself as a staple of cloud rap, and its success is nothing short of a miracle given how nothing has ever sounded like it before.
On the first album in the series, Rainbow Bridge, Sematary begins his transformation by doubling down on the production. Every single beat on this album is essentially the same thing: washed-out guitars with a gimmicky trap beat layered on top of it... and it works. The variety comes from the guitars, which incorporate various genres of metal and noise rock to create something inconceivable in the context of a trap album. This is achieved through brilliant sampling choices.
On the opening track Slaughter House, there is a constant flood of black metal throughout the entire song, though it becomes more obvious in the final minute when the trap beat fades out. The sample is from the atmospheric black metal outfit Woods of Desolation. It's hilarious to imagine Woods of Desolation would have ever expected their music to be sampled on Rainbow Bridge, but that's what makes Sematary such an innovative producer.
Further examples include Bunny Suit, where instrumental noise rock act Smashing Pumpkins is sampled throughout. Or the driving riffs of Toolbox, which appropriately also samples the harsh screams of groove metal band Apati.
However, the biggest improvement is Sematary's vocal delivery, which has a newfound purpose and rhythm compared to Grave House. There are actual melodies now, which allows for some creative and catchy choruses. This can be observed in tracks like Arson, where Sematary's attempts at singing are comical but effective. Or in Dental Floss, where an anthemic chorus adds some much-needed dynamics to Sematary's depressive sound.
Lyrically, Rainbow Bridge is similar to Grave House, but this time Sematary is in control over his mind. While Grave House depicted the slow destruction of sanity from an obsession with murder, Rainbow Bridge is the prequel: a serial killer in his prime, discovering his passion for the first time.
Rainbow Bridge 2 is easily the most underrated and overlooked album in Sematary's discography, mostly because it is seen as an intermission between Rainbow Bridge and the revolution of Rainbow Bridge 3. However, to ignore Rainbow Bridge 2 would be to ignore what is Sematary's most effective world-building and atmosphere.
Everything is slower on this album, and the lower end is turned up to where it takes the center stage in most of the beats. While the sampling follows the same pattern as Rainbow Bridge, it is arguably even more effective at bringing the same themes of ambient metal and introducing them to trap. Even Sematary's voice is deeper than ever before, returning to the same toneless delivery as Grave House.
Rainbow Bridge 2 isn't fun to listen to: it's creepy, it's disgusting, it doesn't have the same energy as its predecessors, but at the same time Sematary is at his best. Whether it's the acoustic grief of Toothtaker: the closest Sematary will come to an emo track, the passionless and obsessive love story of Duster Huffer, or the uncomfortable imagery of Scissor Hands, Rainbow Bridge 2 offers an alternate perspective to Sematary's music. And while it might not be as catchy as its predecessor, or as ingenious as its follow-up, Rainbow Bridge 2 remains a fantastic experience that should not be missed.
The Rainbow Bridge finale came in April of 2021, and was the first mainstream recognition of Sematary; not because it was accessible, but the opposite.
To tell the full story, we have to return to just after Rainbow Bridge 2, where Sematary released the spin-off mixtape Hundred Acre Wrist Hosted By DJ Shadow. This was not a typical Sematary project and featured production that was beefed to the max. The trap beats were faster, wielding its drill resemblance with newfound confidence, and were fit with airy synths as well as hilarious producer tag gimmicks (DJ shadow is a pseudonym for Sematary).
Of course, fans were excited about what this would mean for Rainbow Bridge 3 and speculated on what Sematary would have to offer. None of their predictions could have held up to the final project, however, and demonstrated that Sematary would certainly not be playing it safe from here on out.
By the time Rainbow Bridge 3 was released, Ghost Mountain had left Haunted Mound for personal reasons, leaving Sematary to his own devices. In his absence, Sematary decided to put all of his cards on the table.
Just take the beginning of the first track, God's Light Burns My Flesh, where thrash metal meets the howling of wolves, producer tags, and Sematary's moaning for a full 45 seconds before the song starts. At this point, Sematary's voice is the only constant throughout the rest of the song and album, as he begins his unholy chanting on top of the sound of pure anarchy.
The soundscape is full of random screaming, an alarming lower end saturated beyond belief, and trap beats that sound ripped straight from Almighty So. At times, Sematary's voice is completely consumed by noise, where it is impossible to pick out a specific sound, much less what Sematary is attempting to say.
While Sematary discussed killing with the detached flair of a cold-hearted but calculated psychopath in his previous works, Rainbow Bridge 3 is full of emotion, particularly hate. Sematary knows he's too far gone and is determined to bring everyone else with him. This is evident in tracks like Come With Me To Hell, where a minute in Sematary begins by calmly asking you to come to hell with him. Once it becomes evident that you don't want to go to hell, he flies into a screaming rampage, as if he gave up on convincing and now just blindly wants to kill.
At 53 minutes, Rainbow Bridge 3 is by no means a short-lived experience, but it rarely gives up any slack for its entire runtime, so much so that you're bound to get ear fatigue before the halfway point. The final track, Crucifixion, is the most brutal expedition, as Sematary screams over and over again, "Crucify, Crucify...". After 53 minutes of pain, this feels like the final nail in the coffin for my ears.
Rainbow Bridge 3 mixes metal, drill, and hyper-hop into a singular entity, displaying the peak of Sematary's innovation with comedic persuasiveness.
Sematary's story is far from finished, with his newest LP Butcher's House receiving strong reception amongst fans. However, it's unlikely he will ever be able to replicate what he achieved on Rainbow Bridge 3. For now, Sematary remains a relevant figure in the world of extreme music, and his work will no doubt go on to influence many other up-and-coming artists.
Hackle and Turnabout: The Sideliners
Sematary is the clear face of Haunted Mound and is the most active member of the group. That being said, the other members do not get nearly as much attention as Sematary, even when their projects are just as good if not better than a lot of Sematary's output. Therefore, I feel obliged to review their music along with Sematary, as there are as many similarities as there are differences in their sound.
While the Rainbow Bridge series was produced exclusively by Sematary, all of Haunted Mound's further releases would be produced by a talented team of producers including Oscar18, Grimoire, Snuffer, and Gonerville. While this might seem like it would remove the identity from a style that relied heavily on production, they would prove themselves by producing the singles for Turnabout, which came after the release of Rainbow Bridge 3, releasing some of Haunted Mound's catchiest tracks.
Unlike Sematary, Turnabout was perfectly happy with experimenting with melodies, which gave Turnabout a pop-rap style that worked well with the classic drill production that was introduced on Hundred Acre Wrist.
His debut mixtape, Cutter Lane, expanded this style into a full-length experience. While Cutter Lane wasn't the genre-defining-journey the Rainbow Bridge trilogy was, the catchy choruses, flawless production, and clearer vocal delivery made for an accessible substitute for Sematary's abrasiveness.
Hackle's debut mixtape, Gunsmith Tha Mixtape, carried with it a more distinct sound than Turnabout's interpretation. Part of this is Hackle's obsession, in true American fashion, with guns. While the lyrical content of Turnabout followed Sematary's lead of death, at least Hackle got specific with his method of homicide. This instills Gunsmith Tha Mixtape with a sense of irony that immediately allows the listener to put aside their misgivings about the absurd production and enjoy the music as the comedic experience it's meant to be.
Each track on Gunsmith Tha Mixtape has an overdone introduction, filled with at least 3 producer tags and random adlibs before the song starts. While this is funny at first, it can get annoying after the 10th time.
However, some of the beats on Gunsmith Tha Mixtape are the best that Haunted Mound has to offer, such as Bakelite, which has so much forward momentum that Hackle can barely keep up. The new producer team really shines here, ultimately being more effective at creating fun songs than Sematary's experimental production choices.
Given the rate that Haunted Mound has expanded throughout the last few years, it is likely that Haunted Mound will continue to expand and develop their reputation as the face of this modern strain of drill. Rainbow Bridge has already defined itself as a staple of the 2020s, and the mainstream attention that Sematary has recently begun to receive represents a switch from an exclusive and hardcore fanbase to a broader and less critical one. Whether this means good things for Haunted Mound's music, only time will tell.
Album Rankings and Links:
Grave House
Rainbow Bridge
Rainbow Bridge 2
Hundred Acre Wrist Hosted By DJ Sorrow
Rainbow Bridge 3
Cutter Lane
Gunsmith Tha Mixtape
