It’s been some time since this lot tore up rock club floors across the UK with ‘Bartender’ and ‘Killing Time,’ both tracks are still heard in the clubs all over the land - such was their impact. The band then seemed to fade away, but, like Ill Nino, they just kept doing what they do, recorded some new material and kicked it out in the dust on the road. We now arrive in 2006 and some changes are afoot…

The musical landscape that allowed (hed) p.e. to gain a foothold in the rock scene has moved its own goalposts, sure Korn are still the kings of the hybrid rap/rock genre and Linkin Park certainly took it to the kids and to the charts, but if anything the changes at hand seemed to have pushed this record back towards what this band was really about before radio started to play their style.

Opener ‘Listen’ is a deep groove, that is laid back and chillin’, not what you would expect from an opener, but tracks 2 and 3 certainly liven things up; ‘Lock & Load’ is a storming fist throwing mutha’ ready to buRn baby buRn, it’s like Ric Flair’s theme tune on acid, whoo, whoo…

This album is in fact closer to Body Count and to Public Enemy than to Metal. They have embraced Hip Hop like a long lost brother, they always had the hint of a tint, but now they have emerged with their full colour, and are still able to surprise when they throw their hand onto the table and mix the rock and rap like no one else can. They even call over ‘Roxanne’ on track six, ‘Sophia’ really does have a reggae groove that is being chased by The Police, a Sting in the tail!

At times the generic obsession with staying in the confides of their surroundings lets them down, often each song blends into each other after track six, like a train running out of steam. But when they take chances like closer ‘The Chosen One’ what you hear is a band willing to adapt, but somehow afraid to step out of the shadows and really deliver what they want. This is a good record, but it’s not a great one, they still have that inside them if they can just harness their power one more time…

3/5