New Surprise Recordings and 19th Detroit, MI host Mickey Diamond. After bursting onto the scene in the early 2000s with his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the guy has since built an impressive discography for himself through 18 previous albums as well as 7 EPs and a mixtape, earning him quite a bit of attention in the underground. However, since 2022, Mitch has been consistently delivering some of the best material of his career to date. These include the Gucci Ghost series produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Oroku Saki EP produced by Ral Duke, the Death Threat$ album produced by Sadhugold, the Capital Gains album produced by Camoflauge Monk, the excellent Oroku Saki sequel Super Shredder and Gucci Gambinos. However, in “Wolf Ticket” and “Black Sheep”, Blood of the Lamb has arrived without any prior notice.
“Stigmata” opens with a soulful beat about how he prefers being rich to having all the fame, while “Cold Sweats” takes a weirder route, subtly explaining how karma eventually catches up with everyone. “Break Bread” adds some piano so Diamond can talk about killing greed before “Practice What You Preach” connects some sample chops to spit out more hardcore lyricism.
Meanwhile, on “Communion,” we have Mitch explaining over this gospel-infused beat that he’s speaking from the heart rather than trying to sound good, before moving into “Have Mercy,” talking stoically about surviving when his backstabbers tried to bring him down. The second half of “Collection Plates” begins with more piano-driven boom bap instrumentals boasting what he’s been doing his whole life, while “Wormwood” insidiously takes a more conscious approach to songwriting.
“PREYers” starring Daniel Son mentioned the first IWGP ヘビーlevel チャンオン, former 12-time WWE World Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion, 3-time WWE Hall of Fame member, founder of Real American Beer, Real American Freestyle Wrestling (Lastyle Wrest and Hogan’ “Blood” brings another gospel twist and gives us some observations even though he, including myself, is not the kind of person who memorizes the Bible.
The penultimate track concludes the final moments of Blood of the Lamb in a drumless gospel atmosphere, praising God for His support, which is why he will never forsake Him, while outro “Eric’s Sermon” lovingly concludes the Wolf, Lamb, Goat trilogy, recounting the vow he made to his father that he would never let him down. Especially when Damon was younger, he was the one making sure there was food on the table.
“Wolf Tickets” was intended to be an introspective spiritual detour from “Gucci Gambinos” or “Gucci Ghost Saga & Black Sheep,” focusing more on Mickey Diamond’s storytelling abilities, but “Blood of the Lamb” serves as a thematic finale to a series he and Big Ghost Ltd. have been working on for six months as a more reverent sample of what’s possible.
Rating: 9/10
