Danny Brown’s new album, Atrocity Exhibition, is exactly as manic and innovative as you would expect a rap album named after a Joy Division song to be. Brown’s breakout album, XXX, received praise for its forward-thinking nature and compelling lyrics matched with erratic, grimy beats. His 2013 follow-up album Old continued the narrative opened up in his first album but incorporated several more club-style rap songs that pandered to a more mainstream audience. On Atrocity Exhibition, however, Brown seems to have taken full artistic liberty, making a more left-field style album that displays a heavy amount of ambitious experimentation that pays off beautifully, creating a work of art that stands out starkly against the competition in more recent years.

Brown has a talent that exemplifies his creativity compared to other rappers, in that he possesses the ability and confidence to rap over pretty much any beat or style imaginable. He showcases his creativity starting with the first track, “Downward Spiral,” a track in which he yelps out vocals over an asymmetrical, polyrhythmic beat that almost makes the listener feel uncomfortable but meshes with Brown’s voice in a way that is hard to put into words.

Over the course of this album, he (along with British producer Paul White, who has 10 writing credits out of the 15 tracks on the album) paints with a broad brush, taking influences from Talking Heads style African-influenced bass and drum lines, to the post-punk lo-fi style haze that settles over the whole album, and a host of obscure samples that range from New York 80s all girl percussion band Pulsallama (on the track “Dance in the Water”) to classical chinese singer Lian Zhi Huo (on the track “Lost”).      

This album is a deeply personal one for Brown, who throughout the album talks about the struggles of depression and suicidal thoughts fueled by and contrasted against a drug-fueled partying lifestyle, such as the track “Ain’t It Funny” in which he raps about the world being a “living nightmare that most of us might share” and, in the same track, about his nose bleeding from snorting too much cocaine.

The album’s serious introspective nature doesn’t keep it from going in hard with pumped up tracks like “Goldust” and “Dance in the Water” where he slams out bars of rhythmic poetry in an impressive fashion. Brown also brings in an impressive set of features, such as the track “Really Doe” which features a hook laid-down by Kendrick Lamar and rap verses by Ab-Soul and Earl Sweatshirt who put off a more brooding and laid back vibe that Brown himself fails to capture sometimes with his own vocal style.

Danny Brown’s strangled, yelpy vocals and experimental style may not be for everyone, but Atrocity Exhibition is a forward-thinking indie rap experience that transcends genres and expectations that’s worth a listen for anyone interested in an unique sonic experience.