OCTANE

the take

I thought OCTANE was similar but better to HARDSTONE PSYCHO, Don Toliver’s last album. Body and Gemstone are bangers that I’ve had on repeat since release. Excavator, Rendezvous, and OPPOSITE are also among my favorite tracks, with clean production and catchy hooks. Call Back ATM are my other favorites on the album. I didn’t expect to love them as much as I did, but the vibe of both songs stuck with me. ATM sounds like Too Many Nights 2.0, which I’m certainly here for. So if I only had 7 notable songs out of 17, why such a high rating? Well, the highs of the album are really high and the lows aren’t all that low either. Long Way to Calabasas was my least favorite on the album, and it wasn’t bad. It just was a little too atmospheric for me. Other songs like Tuition and TMU had the same problem, being just a bit boring and too indistinguishable. I liked the idea of Pleasure’s Mine, but it had messy production and the beat drops were a little poorly done. That being said, the album felt like a natural improvement over much of Don’s past catalogue. Shoutout to Jaasu on production on some of OCTANE’s best songs. Body and Gemstone specifically had samples that were really well done. Overall, the album was consistently listenable, with high highs and still high lows. The worst thing I can say is that it was a little boring at times, but the Excavator, Gemstone, Opposite run was crazy. The features on the other hand, were a bit disappointing. I downright disliked Teezo’s verse, I thought Travis was… fine, and I thought Secondhand wasn’t memorable, Rema included. I did like Sahbaby on K9 and I loved Yeat on Rendezvous. But going 2/5 wasn’t the best. However, I think if the worst part of the album is the people OTHER than the artist who released it, then it’s still a great project. This was a great listen, and there are many songs still in my rotation, even a few I didn’t talk about earlier like Tiramisu and E85. I’d recommend this album to anyone who’s willing to listen. 8.9