Toronto emcee The Mighty Rhino burst onto the scene when dropped his debut album, He Whom The Beat Sets Free Is Free Indeed, back in 2011. Since that time he’s showed up here and there with some guest verses and been part of some group projects, but fans have been patiently waiting for the proper follow up to that first album they loved so much. The wait is finally over as he now drops We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness.

Of course, when you take seven years in between albums, there are going to be just as many people, if not more, that have never heard of The Mighty Rhino. That said, it will be interesting how people react to this album for the first time, just in the way that the album reveals itself to you. The album opens with the title track, which is actually more of an opening sung prayer, completely a cappella. If you’re not already familiar with Rhino, you might be a little unsure where the album is going, but once you get past that track, it makes a lot of sense in retrospect. That’s because the prayer is actually in dialogue with the rest of the album, as Rhino takes the space of the rest of the album to present to complex human being he is across the next fourteen tracks. At first, he’s hitting you with these hard beats as he talks his shit with songs like “Establishing Shot” and “Blue Suit Pimpin’,” and you think you might have him figured out. And if that’s all he was, he would still be enjoyable, since he’s extremely charismatic on the mic and creative with his shit talking. Then you get to “Stay Up,” and oh shit! He’s a great soul singer as well, and he can drop inspirational spiritual rhymes without sounding corny, just like Brother Ali (I should clarify that The Mighty Rhino is of the Baha’i faith). Then you get to a song like “Every Atom,” and you get this intensely personal and intimate song with an incredibly mature look at a romantic relationship that didn’t work, but there are no hard feelings. It’s one of those songs that you hear and you’re like, “Why does this sound fresh? We should have more songs like this!” He’s talking faith, romance, politics, and everything in between, showing the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful sides of himself. With production from Defckon, Remot, Digs, MisterE, Red Dot, Measuring Man, Tokyo Cigar, and Michael Nosratolláh Ferguson, we get everything from some hard core classic East Coast beats to some modern R&B, to some underground back pack beats, to some gospel, and beyond. We also get guest appearances from an incredible roster featuring Big Rube, D-Sisive, Prince Po, Ultra Magnus, Donny Yonder, Carlos Ford, Adam Bomb, Myka 9, OG Big Mike, IllVibe, Jesse Dangerously, I Am Joseph, More or Les, Cam James, Witchdoctor, and The Divine Sweetness Singers. With all of this on one album, things could have easily become messy, and The Mighty Rhino might have gotten himself lost in the mix with all of the producers and guest vocalists. That’s not the case with We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness. The more I listen to this album, the more I hear an artist who is not just confident in his own artistic voice, and one who’s willing to take risks, but I also hear someone who cares enough to take the time to make sure that everything makes sense not just on each track, but in the bigger picture of the album. There are lots of great individual songs on this album, but it’s the way this album puts everything in conversation with each other that makes its special.

He took his time getting here, but The Mighty Rhino sure as hell made sure he got it right with his sophomore album. We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness is an incredibly complex and heartfelt album with a lot of twists and turns and multiple layers to it. It’s something that gets better each time you listen to it, and it’s certainly one of the best albums of the year.