Hoodlum Priest – Heart Of Darkness

Hoodlum Priest's debut is an impressive album for its worth. combining what seems to be the best parts of Pop Will Eat Itself, Art Of Noise and perhaps a little SPK (Derek Thompson's previous involvement before he did a one-off performance with The Cure), the album is held together by its impressive use of samples and sounds. MC Sevier's rapping style sounds a little forced and dated these days, but he shines as an accomplice to the tracks he's featured on. checking into his previous industrial guise, the opening track is a dark ambient piece with a revving motorcycle the album kicks off with the impressive Rock Drill, a kinda techno/rock/rap hybrid, and then follows that up with the dark and Blade Runner sampling "Tyrell". C-Horse is a bit of a weird Prince-inspired number which kinda sounds out of place on the album, and Sex Spirit with its French lyrics is kinda like Serge Gainsbourg meets New Order. Causcian although using a hendrix sample is the most chart friendly number, although it is a weird braggadocio rap about the perks being white. although the CD and Cassette has a bonus track which is a kinda odd tribute to Kraftwerk ("The walker") which is a song about being a male escort, The album finally reaches its peak with the last 3 tracks- the excellent "Talk Dirty" is a dark pruient rap rock song, Deep Dance bids us farewell to Sevier who delivers his best performance on the whole album, before the album properly closes with "Rebel Angel" which samples Vladimir Cosma and dialogue from the book Paradise Lost (I'm still trying to find where this sample originates from, as Derek himself when I asked him years ago and he seems to have forgotten)

It's a real shame that ZTT didn't promote Hoodlum Priest due to their worry over the sample clearance issues and being bought out by Warner Bros, and then the dissolution between Derek and Paul due to a clash of beliefs as the debut was a promising affair. releases would become less frequent as the years went on, as aside from sporadically releasing one EP and a follow-up release in 1998 and nothing much came after. Hoodlum Priest did have a site archiving all the releases at one stage and did return in 2020. Prices seem to have dropped with this release over the years, so if you have any knowledge of the bands mentioned i suggest giving this one off a shot.

All I know is that I cracked up heavily when a friend brought this over in 1990. Then it began to grow on me

Sortring through the lesser played records and i come across Heart Of Darkness, wow i used to love this album, the 90's UK rap style certainly hasn't aged well but the production is immense, and the interplay between all the samples and the recorded music, and the vocals is masterful, Avalanches 'Since I Left You' levels of obvious but smooth.
Everyone's hating on C Horse but for me that's a real highlight, if Prince was from Bromley, actually it's too short, the finale could dub out a bit followed by Antina by M.A.R.R.S.
Caucasion is incredible, and it's this track that brought me to Hoodlum Priest as it was produced by Che who released another lost 90's classic https://www.discogs.sitioby.com/Che-Narcotic/master/357018.
Talk Dirty is definitely my least favourite, but it fits into the whole and carries you to the incredible finale.
Not so much an LP as a cinematic experience, on the 'underated masterpieces' list.

I purchased Hoodlum Priest - Heart Of Darkness vinyl LP back in 1990 when it was released. It wasn't released in Denmark at that point but a import vinyl shop had it. I heard a couple of tracks and not only the album was sold, I was sold too.
Years later I found the CD version too at low price. It helped to preserve the original vinyl :)
Ever since, this album has been a great inspiration (I make some electronic music too) and one of my absolute all time favorite albums.
I'll never stop being fascinated by this production. The use of movie samples are so well put together, gives the tracks a fantastic atmosphere and funny to suddenly find out where it came from when watching a movie years after. The compositions are unique and also far ahead of time. Now, 25 years after it's still an experience, a journey that make me notice new aspects.
This album is a must-have if you like industrial, trip hop, 90's hip hop, electronica, great distorted guitar riffs or innovative use of samples. Yeah, a masterpiece!! Check out http://www.hoodlumpriest.net/ for even more info and music from Derek Thompson's Hoodlum Priest universe.

on the "albums you must hear before you die" here is mine. After searching years to get a physical copy of this, i paid a lot of money but it was well worth it. in a way it takes the best parts of mid 90s Pop Will Eat Itself, SPK and Art Of Noise and throws them into a blender, Hoodlum Priest's "Heart of Darkness" was a overlooked gem released in 1990, fronted by a man whom had already done stints in the Cure and SPK and then dropped this cinematic slab of sci fi industrial british rap. it has innovative use of sampled dialogue, classical strings taken straight from Shotsakovich's symphonies and jagged guitar work (it is stated they where done in one take) Sevier's british rap stylings compliment the production so well, varying topics on been a emotionless machine ("Rock Drill") replicant information age paranoia ("Tyrell") and lust ("Talk Dirty").

Every time I hear this album i hear something that wasn't there before. There is only two clangers on this album which are pretty pointless "C-Horse" and the French spoken word New Order-esque track "Sex Spirit" apart from that its a hell of a good album. The album closes with the fantastic "Deep Dance" and then the piano led piece "Rebel Angel", both masterpieces in their own right.

HP wouldn't exactly do a follow to this album to this until 1998, which some of elements had distractedly changed but not for the worse.