Compared to their debut, the 2nd album from UK legends Son Of Noise is a mixed bag of mostly good songs, a little bad and just a slight touch of ugly.

“Sons Of The Noise” is the opening track which has the main MC, Curoc bringing us his views on the hip hop scene, whites holding back black acts, record companies, fake MC’s and the like. He’s pretty peeved in this song and it has a banging beat behind it with ominous sounds which add to the feel, although the BPM’s and his rhyme style are somewhat slower than you’d remember if you were familiar with the group's earlier material. The most endearing feature of this song to me is the Bob Marley "don't let them fool ya ..." sample in the break which adds to the feel of the song nicely.

“Young Offender” picks up the pace and sounds like it would’ve fit well onto their first LP. It has one of those classic funky, prominent basslines, a great horn sample that runs in and out behind the track and a slight double tracking to the vocals which adds to the song. A Guru vocal sample gets cut up nicely in the break of this track by the DJ (well one of them – Mada or Renegade).

“Crazy Mad Flow” is an interesting one and presents me with an appreciation dilemma. On one hand I really like the track as it’s catchy, funky and dope and Curoc and guest MC Nilo (aka Kobalt60) come really rough on it. On the other hand there some influences from the US musically with a bit too much Onyx style yelling going on and it even has a little G-Funk keyboard effect in the break. I remember hearing this song for the first time thinking “gee they’ve really changed their style” and was somewhat concerned at the lack of unique UK feel to it. Anyway taking the song on its own merits, without thinking too deeply about outside influences, it's still pretty damn good.

The next two songs introduce the less positive aspects of this album:
“Cherokee Outlaw” is a shortish interlude which is simply a slow dark beat with what I’m assuming is a Cherokee Indian talking about the White man’s treatment of his people. No argument from me with what he’s saying but I really have no idea why this track appeared on this album? There is not anything alluding to the situation of American Indians on the rest of album at all and it just seems out of place here.
Confusing the relevance of the previous track even further is the fact that it’s immediately followed up by the musically lightweight sounding track “Family”. Bringing a vital, if somewhat idealistic, message to the listener I cannot be mad at the topic behind this one (families sticking together through thick and thin) but musically it’s getting towards fairy floss territory and it was quite a shock to hear the man who was once a Gunshot member making a track like this. It features a female singer who appears at the start of the track, in the chorus and pretty much takes over the song for the last 2 minutes of it. If that wasn’t bad enough, the music on this one would've been perfectly suited to Monie Love. Sorry Curoc and friends, I love ya but this one is not for me.

Much redemption is earnt however with “Here The Cop” possessing what I see as the classic Kold Sweat sound. Midtempo, sparse, slightly scattered offbeat drums with a busy bassline and a raw, dusty, jazzy break create a very enjoyable soundscape. Curoc brings a casual yet purposeful delivery on this track discussing the ills of the world such as governments, drugs and racism. NICE TRACK.

Unfortunately proceedings take a strange turn with “Pedro’s Return” for no other reason than the recording quality of the track itself. The vocals are really low and very muffled, the music has no bass or kick to it and the whole track sounds like the quality control of the recording was totally overlooked and it’s a bit of a mess. Perhaps it’s my CD that’s at fault as I’ve never heard this song elsewhere for comparison. Shame too coz it’s actually quite a raw song with some deft DJ work in evidence.

The fantastic posse cut “Keep It Going Pt2” comes up next (in better sound quality). It’s a rough, hard track with explosive deep end bass crashing around behind it. It’s the sequel to the Part 1 posse track that appeared on their first LP. Whilst this sequel features lesser known MC’s compared to the first part it is just as good and I perhaps like this one ever so slightly more than Part 1. Standout here is Nilo/Kobalt60 and an added bonus for me is the appearance of the Scientists of Sound who are criminally underrated by the UK scene and happen to be one of my favourite groups. Razor sharp DJ cutting is a major bonus on this track too.

The next three tracks put another dent in proceedings:
“Down With Son Of Noise” has a pretty boring, overused and simple slightly old school “clap your hands” type beat and another female recruited for chorus duties, none of which ring of hardcore, raw hip hop.
“Ad Astra” is a relatively plain and dark instrumental which features a dude yelling “Superhuman Interstellar” and a couple other vocal samples about New Mexico or something – ummmm ok.
“White Trash” presents itself as a bit of a strange song next. Lyrically and topically Curoc is on point attacking racists with a semi-whispered yet rapid vocal delivery – which is cool. However it has a pretty weak chorus with a rather irritating female songstress singing something like “blah, blah, blah, all humans were created equal” and similarly to the “Family” track she gets the last minute of the song all to herself. I don’t know if the guys were giving their girlfriends a shot at fame on this album but a much more subdued presence from these ladies, or even a total disappearance by them, would’ve been preferred by this listener. Some goofy sound effects behind our singing friend don't help it either.

“A+Rse Hole” thankfully brings us back again to the rougher rapid sounds of their earlier album and is probably the most classic “britcore” sounding track on the album. No prizes for guessing what this song is about. “You sign your cousin and your boys but couldn’t give a flyin f*** about Son of Noise”. The second verse of the song pays a nice tribute to lots of old school artists with Curoc giving shoutouts to his contemporaries such as Powerlords, Mello, No Remorze, MCD, Standing Ovation etc. etc. This is more like it !

A remix of “Crazy Mad Flow” pops up next. Quite different from the original with it’s old school soul sounding horns and 70’s funk disco sound (reminiscent of Camp Lo). I do prefer the original version of this song but it’s not bad and I'm glad it’s a genuine remix with a new sound and not just a slight alteration from the original as some remixes are.

The epic “Scratch It At Your Own Risk” kicks in next. This monster of a DJ track features FIVE DEEJAYS – Shorty Blitz, Big Ted, Son, Renegade and Mada. Each has turns cutting up dem tingz in a ballistic manner over an old electro track and Curoc announces each DJ by dropping each DJ's name before they start their round of talent exhibition. As far as DJ tracks go this is one of my favourites of all time and the fact that the DJ’s keep rotating from one to the next keeps the interest up for the entire track.

“Pressure” is the last of the female singer driven tracks and once again the little miss on this song gets way too much time to show her abilities. She actually opens the song with her vocals and sings for one and a half minutes, before a word is heard from Curoc, which may have you checking that your CD changer hasn't skipped to an R&B album. In fact she gets roughly 3 minutes of the 6min song all to herself and even stays moaning on the track behind Curoc as he rhymes. By this late point of the album the singing thing really becomes too much and I don’t even care what the song is about.

Although I am stopped from pressing eject when the “Here The Cop” remix drops ! Again it’s another remix that sounds quite different from its parent track. This track is driven by a very stripped back and hard beat which is perfection in its raw simplicity. The straightforward yet precise DJ work in the chorus tops this one off magnificently. It’s pretty much exactly what hip hop should sound like in my opinion.

The album closes out with some guy named Paul Ryan talking about the music industry and the UK hip hop scene over a very dark and pretty dope beat. Although Paul’s views are totally on point, from an entertainment standpoint it’s not the kind of track you’re going to play over and over and get much out of after the first couple listens. Maybe it would’ve been a bit better just to close the album on a major high with the “Here The Cop” remix and have this last track as the intro ?

Reading back my review I don’t know how much I like this album? There is some pretty harsh criticism yet a lot of glowing praise as well. In summary perhaps it’s best put as saying there was too much of what I didn’t want (the R&B laced softer tracks) and not enough of what I was expecting and hoping for (the rougher hardcore sounds of their first album). Additionally a few different themes and styles were thrown around the album leaving me somewhat confused at the lack of coherence in the overall feel of the album. Having said that i'd still recommend it as an essential part of any UK hip hop lovers collection, the top tracks are worth the price of admission alone !

Top Tracks :
"Here The Cop" (original and remix)
"Keep It Goin Pt2"
"A+rse Hole"
"Young Offender"
"Scratch It At Your Own Risk"

Hear it here : http://heroesofukhiphop.com/SonOfNoise.htm

Reviewed by Czechone for Heroes Of UK Hip Hop 2007