Written by Toby Wilkins
Over the last decade, Bladee has made a name for himself in internet circles as the most prolific and high-profile member of Swedish cloud rap collective Drain Gang. His hazy, dreamlike soundscapes, alongside ethereal, ghostly vocals, carry a strong emotional tether, strengthened by surprisingly philosophical lyrics focusing on drug abuse and mental health struggles – “Fear of death and stress cause stress and fear of death,” from 2021’s ‘Thee 9 Is Up’ is a personal favourite.
Sulfer Surfer marks Bladee’s first full-length outing since 2024’s behemoth Cold Visions, a 30-track, 64-minute project that combined the sounds of rage and cloud rap. Whilst ambitious, it did feel a tad bloated, so this new record’s much shorter 13-song tracklist is very welcome. Furthermore, Sulfer Surfer sees Bladee’s first LP entirely produced by Drain Gang’s inhouse producer, Whitearmor, since 2022’s collaboration record with Ecco2k, Crest.
Lead single ‘Blondie,’ with its darker sound and opening monologue, which includes lines such as “Stop making music right now, you all fucking disgust me/ You should go fucking die,” led fans to affectionately label this album’s persona as “Evil Bladee.” The opening title track seems to go against this somewhat, with its euphoric, triumphant synths giving way to fantastical lyrics invoking “black dragons” and St George the Martyr, also prevalent in 2025’s 3-pack single Ste The Beautiful Martyr 1st Attempt (considering how often he is mentioned on this project, it’s safe to call Sulfer Surfer the second attempt). However, ‘Versailles Flow’ is certainly gloomier, as brooding synths and eerie vocal samples provide a bed for Bladee to softly murmur about feeling burnt out and wonder about what he is even working towards: “Venom is the medicine that’s pestering our mind/ Everything is heavenly when heaven is the grind.” This mental suffering, and the reason behind it, is the record’s central theme – ‘Dolor’s’ incredibly catchy chorus invokes Gordon Allport’s theory that “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering,” whilst its Keatsian outro proclaims “Pain is a privilege, what would we be without it?”
After a great opening five songs, the album takes a big dip with ‘Fox & Birch,’ featuring British neofolk band Current 93. The guitar-led instrumental is pretty enough but feels out of place amongst the barrage of synths that have made up the LP’s sound so far, while Bladee’s vocals are incredibly grating, an issue that also plagues ‘Under my Umbrella’ and the first part of ‘The Dark Mirror,’ although there are pockets of the latter where it kind of works well. The album’s usual quality returns on ‘Durin’s Bane,’ a cut that can only be described as classic Bladee; off-kilter raps packed full of quotables “(I had ate so many nights, I’m becoming skinny fat”), over an incredible droning beat. After another run of great tracks, the record reaches its meandering conclusion, ‘Scab,’ an atmospheric closer that runs just a little too long, with its only true highlight coming in the smooth segue between its two parts.
Sulfer Surfer is a return to form for Bladee. It features a similar level of experimentation as Cold Visions, but with less of the bloat, whilst its lyrics are focused and genuinely border on profound, a trait of Bladee’s that his biggest critics often dismiss.
