Album of the Week: Only Dust Remains – Backxwash
A genre-defying voice returns with her boldest and most personal work yet
Zambian-Canadian rapper, producer and BRDCST 2025 co-curator Backxwash returns with a thunderous post-trilogy album, Only Dust Remains. After a two-year hiatus, this new release pushes her trademark mix of horrorcore, metal, and experimental hip-hop into more orchestral and emotionally expansive territory.
Backxwash’s sound is as confrontational as ever – gritty, spiritual, urgent – but this time she injects it with sweeping gospel choirs, ambient post-rock textures, and intricate instrumental arrangements. From the raw intensity of 9th Heaven to the haunting lyricism of History of Violence, she explores generational trauma, mental health, and global injustice with equal parts fury and vulnerability.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free / Thinking about all the people dead in the street / How young was this kid, like 11 or 3?”
Critics are unanimous:
- ★★★★★ “A vital, devastating and disarming work… Backxwash is without question one of the most important artists making music today.” – Distorted Sound
- ★★★★ “A brave, powerful and uncompromising album… as soul-crushingly heavy and devastating as it gets.” – Kerrang!
- “It feels like she’s conducting a full orchestra.” – Bandcamp (Album of the Day)
Standout moments?
The shimmering, gospel-laced Black Lazarus, the political firestorm of Wake Up, and the cinematic, genre-bending closer Only Dust Remains – featuring vocals by Pet Wife and a synth outro by Morgan-Paige, who she also programmed on her BRDCST lineup.
Catch Backxwash live at BRDCST 2025 as both performer and curator on Saturday 5/04.