After what felt like a 3 million years wait, the much-anticipated album “Subaru Boys: Final heaven” by Cruel Santino finally dropped, and it was completely worth the wait.
After the success of his debut studio album in 2019, “Mandy in the Jungle” was an unforgettable experience where Cruel Santino (affectionately also called “Santi” by his fans) managed to establish himself as a pillar in the Nigerian Alternative music scene, “Subaru Boys: Final Heaven” seeks to solidify further what he established with his previous project.
However, irrespective of this previous album’s ingenuity, Santisomehow found a way to reinvent his genre-defying sound to give his fans a new experience with this album, an ageless body of work indeed! Santi’s sophomore album (SB: FH) is an aesthetic innovation, an enchanting musical wonderland.
This album feels like one is being raptured for an otherworldly experience or on an adventurous trip into a sci-fi animation series with 21 episodes. The top tier production of this body of work cannot be ignored or overlooked, as it was an integral part of how Santi was able to churn out an instant classic in a 59 minutes album run.
The album’s major themes bordered fear, unrequited love, isolation, free will (existentialism), childhood, and a few other songs, even being characterized by a sense of chaos. One can tell that the album is also anime-inspired.
Unlike his previous body of work, where “Sparky” and “Rapid fire” were released prior to the album’s release, Santi did not release any lead singles for “Subaru Boys: Final heaven”, as the rationale and motive behind that choice, was to allow listeners to consume the album in it’s wholesome and cohesive form.
The head-bopping “Matilda” featuring Brazy kickstarted the album on a high-spirited note, with bold resounding 808’s and brass band-like snare drums, paving the way for an experimental trap instrumental intricately woven with a subtle lingering Afropop vibe.
The aura of “Matilda” compelled Brazy and Santi to “skate” on with their pacy flows and glistening cadence. I told Gus I’m dreamin is an entrancing pop tune, which emits a 90’s vibe. War in trenches, Tapenga” and The Pearls, are coherently concert or wild club type songs that one can just jump and dance their worries and cares away to.
The conceptual album cover:
The endearing Heating Rocks is an undeniably beautiful song. The gorgeous piano synth chords on this song created the perfect ambience for Santi to express his innate fear about a relationship with a girl, and it seems as though he is stuck in a love triangle and he is exhausted, lines like “Deep down I fear it feels so clear”, “It’s fine, I get it you don’t like seafood, I know he’s watching, So I will meet you soon” reflect the situation at hand.
Cruel Santino and Koffee was the collaboration we did not know we needed. Santi deployed the award-winning grammy artist on the irresistible “Deadman Bone”, Koffee’s presence was heavily felt, the Jamaican artist did not disappoint at all, as her verse was vibrantly executed. Sonically speaking, this song may remind one of Santi’s critically acclaimed mixtape “Suzie’s funeral” specifically songs like “Gangsta fear” or “Purple Juice” as this song’s dancehall vibe is reminiscent of those tunes.
Immediately after “Deadman Bone” is the Final Champion. A highly anticipated joint as the snippet of this song was previewed by Santi months before the album’s release. This contagious song had fans drooling over this song. This song is a jam for days. In fact, for eternity, it is a banger! The addictive hook that this song is laced with is the icing on the cake of the song: “Werey touch me”, Werey is a Yoruba word meaning “acting irrationally”, “crazy”, or “madness”.
The Subaru boys Ost interlude is a portal to a deeper dimension. Its spaceship-like instrumental structure transports the listener to a more profound realm of the “Subaru” experience. The pop punk inspired sounds and the high tempo of First Heaven coupled with Santi’s vocalization created a “Subaru” heavenly atmosphere on this song. The outro of First Heaven proved to be a very critical juncture of the album, as a listener is finally initiated as a “Subaru boy” ( the term “Subaru boy” is a unisex term), the outro also admonishes listeners to enjoy the coming experience of the next songs.
The song Born Again features Africa’s Quintessential princess of Pop – Amaarae, who has recently enjoyed a burst of success and features on afro-fused guitar strum instrumental produced by Le Mav, who also produced a lot of songs on this project.
Wicked City featuring Gus Dapperton is considered a favourite by many fans as well. Santi’s vocal rendition on this pop jam just further showcases why Santi is an alté musical icon. Gus Dapperton was an asset on this song as well. His delivery was one for the books.
Also, Santi came in hard with a feature from one of the greatest to do it from the UK, the Big Smoke himself, Skepta, Santi was able to get Skepta outside his comfort zone a bit as this song’s beat isn’t typically mainstream-friendly, but the combination eventually worked out and resulted into a memorable song with dirty eyes, evil manners.
Honourable mentions on this album include the other quality features from Maison 2500, Solis, Chi Virgo, WifiGawd and Ebee. The outro of this album SA-KURACHAN is a perfect finisher. It leaves listeners in a daze with gorgeous, refreshing lucrative piano chords that are neatly laid over the instrumental.
The seamless transitions on this album cannot go unspoken of, the smooth “moonwalk like” transition from War in the trenches to Tapenga is simply wonderful. Also, the chaotic transition from Own Game to Deadman Bone featuring Koffee, is so well done that you would not realize you’re listening to the next song. The transition from “deadman bone” to “final champion” was also perfectly done.
All in all, Santi was able to execute his preconceived idea of the album, he reinvented his sound to suit the conceptual framework of this body of work, and it worked!
Final Heaven album on Spotify:
Written by Paa Kwesi Folson
