In October 2023, rapper Ken Carson released his third studio album, A Great Chaos. This highly experimental album captivated its audience with some of the most complex melodies for the mainstream at the time.
When the deluxe for A Great Chaos was released, its sequel album, More Chaos, was announced, and the release was set for April 11, 2025
Unfortunately, More Chaos was leaked in its entirety on Wednesday, April 9th, just days before the album’s release. However, this is nothing new to Fans of Ken Carson, as A Great Chaos was leaked about a week before the release.
Despite the leaks, the projects were both released as scheduled, with many fans choosing to wait for the official release out of respect for the artist.
My biggest concern with this album before its release was that it was going to be too similar to A Great Chaos. While the production of these albums was quite similar, the simplest beats on More Chaos are quite complex compared to the production of the original album.
This album suffers from some of the same issues that Osamason’s Jumpout faced, that being the production. Ken Carson has clearly evolved as an artist with his flow, yet the repetitiveness of the production makes this album a lot less appealing, especially after A Great Chaos popularized these intense beats.
With this combination, the album is certainly good, yet the sound has become oversaturated with what the rap community refers to as clones. A Clone is someone who is trying to replicate the sound of another artist. This strategy has varying effects, but in the long run, it detracts from the creativity of the genre.
Although the production issues are hard to ignore, I still find this album enjoyable, despite the clones. Ken Carson is still the pioneer of the new rage sound. His flow on these rage beats is still unmatched.
The few songs on this album that do have non-repetitive beats are some of Ken Carson’s best work. Songs that fit this category are Trap Jump, Ghoul, and 2000. These songs are what I was hoping the whole album would be like, bringing together elements from different sub-genres of rap with the classic Ken Carson rage sound.
I feel the true purpose of this album is to be performed rather than as something with a lot of replayability. While this is disappointing, it is quite fitting for the style of rap, as well as for Ken Carson as an artist, as he quite literally states in the song Lord of Chaos “I’m the lord of the mosh [pit].”
As someone who saw Ken Carson perform A Great Chaos, his stage presence is like no other. The excitement and energy of the crowd at his shows is unmatched, with the crowd at his show being one of the most excited I have ever been in.
I believe this album will have an amazing tour, much bigger than any previous tours, as Ken Carson’s manager was discussing having him perform in arenas on Instagram comments. Although unconfirmed, it’s an exciting prospect.
When listening to More Chaos, it opens hard with the track Lord of Chaos and drills intense beats with heavy 808s, synths, and snare, along with many beat switches in the first half of the album. As it continues, it starts to slow down while still maintaining the rage sound.
Unfortunately, as the album progresses, it gets harder to distinguish between songs. The production was just too repetitive. The only songs on this album that truly stand out are Ghoul, Trap Jump, and psycho. Because of this, I was disappointed by this album
However, for a fan who’s not accustomed to the sound, this album is a pretty solid project. More Chaos also reached number one on the Apple Music charts within twenty-four hours of its release.
