Hi everyone, Bigthony Smoochtano here, the internet's kissiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new slayr EP, AVANT NOVA.

Here we have a new EP from rapper, producer, singer-songwriter slayr, a Philly native who is really having a moment right now, one that is undeniable but simultaneously hard to encapsulate.

It's safe to say that a lot of this guy's biggest fans, but also a lot of his biggest haters, come out of the current-day rage scene. His saturated mixes, distorted trap beats, heavy use of autotune, and very expressive ad-libs, of course, would appeal to that scene, but slayr is also a dude who clearly pulls a lot of inspiration from his SoundCloud forefathers, especially a lot of the early pioneers of the emo trap movement.

The influence from that comes out most obviously in a lot of his very expressive and melodic vocal leads, and in addition to that, you could say a lot of his writing and production have a lot of aesthetic crossover with the world of hyper-pop, as well as digicore. And if you don't believe me, there are actually artists and fans in that scene that seem to think so, as evidenced by a recent collab with the one and only Tiffany Day, which was honestly a banger and saw both artists having to change very little about their respective sounds in order to sound very in-their-element in this crossover.

And this track here is one of many very smart moves that slayr has been making as of late, really since the recent blow-up of his Half-Blood mixtape, which saw a deluxe edition release earlier this year, which I loved. And now, not too long after that, we are being hit with this new EP, this next installment of tracks. And while it is short and to the point, it hardly feels like just a random smattering of songs being thrown out there just to have them out. This thing also feels like slayr doubling down in a lot of ways on the sounds and vibes of that Half-Blood mixtape, an extension of many of the same ideas, which is not really a bad thing.

The opening track, "Promise," actually features a very prominent sample, from that opening vocal melody to the underscores track, "The Peace," which of course landed on the new album, U, which is, one of the most beloved pop records of 2026. This track also features some clear and clever tie-ins to the original lyrics of that underscores song too, and just feels like slayr building on the original idea of that track in the best way. I mean, the song hasn't even been out for six months, and, instrumentally speaking, it's already been flipped into a banger here, with grandiose synth chords and hype ad-libs and flows.

Now, as we go deeper, like many tracks off of the Half-Blood deluxe, the songs on this thing all kind of segue into each other and flow as this one holistic project, and I love this quality about slayr's album craft. It just sort of shows that he thinks about his songs in a very big-picture kind of way, which I think a lot of artists in his lane don't at the moment.

But, yeah, as we move into the second track on this record, we hear these synth passages that honestly sound like the beginning of a Postal Service song. That is, before the whole thing breaks into this bright, fun, synth-y, distorted trap beat, topped with lyrics that, in a lot of ways, feel like a celebration of self, saying that the swag will not be switched up for these pussies. Which, I feel like for slayr is a necessary statement, because a lot of his critics seem to come from the rage scene that he's clearly inspired by, but simultaneously they don't really seem to appreciate that he doesn't fit into kind of the nonchalant, faux-alternative mold that a lot of the biggest artists in this field bring to the table at the moment, earning him labels like "burger music," whatever the hell that means.

But yeah, this track is catchy, it's rough, and the cut "Nova" turns the distortion up even higher with an instrumental that sounds just absolutely fried in the mix. So much rumble, so much low-end, with all of the highs being just crispy and sunburnt, scorched to the point where you're just kind of hearing blips and flecks, and little crunchy touches of the tones and synth chords. It's abrasive to the point where it is most definitely not going to be for everyone, but I like how even in these moments slayr tops these instrumentals with flows that are very determined, are locked in, are expressive, anthemic, and melodic. At the very least, he's matching the energy of the instrumental and not simply allowing the production to do all the work.

The production gets even more grim on the following "I Got Taste," which I'm a little on the fence with, mostly because of just how all over the place the production is. It sort of seems like just about anything is being thrown at the mix just to kind of take up space a little bit, between these wee-woo-woo-woo siren synthesizers and, at one point, even chunky metal riffs that are so blown out you can barely hear them. Then, of course, once slayr starts meeting these passages with a kind of low register Cookie Monster flow, all bets are off. Again, I'm not crazy about it. I don't hate it either. It's just really trying to be as unhinged as possible and it's exceeding at least a little bit.

I think the quality of this EP picks back up with the next track "Having Anxiety Is Annoying," which very smartly features another intro melody that is built off of that original underscores vocal sample that kicks the whole EP off. But again, a different melodic arrangement is built off of it, and it's almost like slayr is creating here the rage trap equivalent to a musical suite where you have these different motifs melodically, and themes that are returned to across the piece which, conceptually and, compositionally is actually pretty fucking sick.

Again, that macro picture and the way that slayr kind of envisions it is really impressive. And I'm also kind of impressed by the EDM drop that is at the very finish of this track, too – slayr continuing to show his appreciation for different genres and embodying them, working them into his work really well and really effectively. After this, we have a relatively strong finish with "Raise My Voice" and, overall, I think this EP is another solid helping of material.

It's not quite as exciting or as mind-blowing as something that would have been album length or grade overall, but the consistency of quality across these tracks is high enough and there was clearly enough forethought put into the overall vision of this EP, and the flow of all these tracks together, that I do think this thing is one of my favorite EPs of the year so far. Which is why I'm feeling about a strong 7 to a light 8 on it.

Anthony Fantano. slayr. Forever.