Curse ov Dialect’s new album is a dizzying, multi-dimensional carnival of conscious hip hop. Inspired by surrealistic grappling with questions of identity and evolution, Curse ov Dialect have collectively created Crisis Tales: a psychedelic, kaleidoscopic scrawl of mercurial rage and spasmodic humour, flowing freely into the void of consumer culture. The alien yet familiar sounds of Crisis Tales reflect the psychological and geographical adventures of the five-strong Melbourne crew (MCs Raceless and Vulk Makedonski, vocalists August the 2nd and Aturungi, and DJ\u002Fproducer Paso Bionic). Having toured extensively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, Japan and North America, fostering connections with musicians met on their travels, Curse ov Dialect know no borders. Crisis Tales is the most impressive product yet of the band’s restless creativity and degenerate mindscape. A hybrid gumbo of musical mutations and bending of genres, the album climaxes with an epic, 11-minute transnational posse track featuring guest rappers from Macedonia, Germany, Poland, Indonesia, Switzerland and the United States. Produced by Curse ov Dialect and mixed by DJ\u002Fproducer Danielsan (Koolism), Crisis Tales sprawls a wide-spectrum, organic sonic palette with a solid hip hop foundation. Special guests include Joelistics (TZU), Elf Tranzporter (Combat Wombat), Kaigen (Japan), RKS, Hugo 1, Eytan Messiah, and Trillion (NZ). Equal parts empathy and theatricality, Crisis Tales is at once a strident call to arms, challenging society’s restraints of conformity, oppression and religion, and a dreamy contemplation of all things metaphorical and metaphysical. With an armoury of lyrics both sharp and thoughtful, inscrutable and existential, and a mindblowing, hyper-authentic musicality, Curse ov Dialect is conclusive proof that Australian hip hop is a genre worth infiltrating and subverting.