Much of
Lil Peep
's music was dark and brooding, but his collaborative work with
Lil Tracy
on their Castles mixtape series had an especially bleak atmosphere, one almost completely void of even the meager pop accessibility of
Peep
's studio albums. Originally released in July of 2016,
castles
was a three-song outing, expanded on six months later with the five additional songs of
Castles II
. The distant, lo-fi guitar samples and gloomy melodic hook of "castles" are standard for
's emo rap formula, but there's a deeper sense of alienation and loneliness here than usual. The lyrics for every track are heavy with drugs, betrayal, deathly imagery, and a take on depression and pain so pervasive it almost reads as lethargic. "witchblades" is one of the catchier examples of this emotionally drained style, with
and
Tracy
trading hooks and verses about empty sex, hard drugs, and disappointment that stretches back to early life but shows no signs of lightening in adulthood. "past the castle walls" adds to this heavy energy, with a moody, minor-key acoustic guitar loop struggling to keep up with a booming trap beat.
Castles I & II
is just a little over 20 minutes of music, but feels like an album statement when presented in this format. These banging but deflated songs don't stray too far from the general world weariness that touched all of
's music, but there's a deeper shade of resignation and despair here, making it an especially striking chapter in his greater catalog. It's not always an easy listen, but the way
expresses pain so articulately and second-nature here makes
an essential piece of his body of work. ~ Fred Thomas