BACK TO MAIN
By Bradley Miller - UrbNet.com
It seems that the taste of commercial success that monster singles like “Fuel Injected” and “Breath” provided was too much to ignore when Swollen Members’ Mad Child, Prevail and now-official partners Moka Only and Rob The Viking laid down the blueprints for their latest LP, Heavy. Grossly influenced by the Neptunes/Timbaland synth-hop style of production and reliant on their own formulaic brand of sing-song hooks, it’s an album that’s chock full of ready-for-radio singles that are long on style but offer little in terms of substance. “Don’t Know Why” (with Abstract Rude) is decent and “Concentrate” sports a Mid-Eastern flair, but “Heat” emerges as the best track - a mid-tempo song that boasts subtle keys, a laidback hook and relaxed flows. Pretty much everything else bites someone else’s style (Missy Elliott on “All Night” and The Clipse on “Remember The Name”) or struggles to escape being deemed ‘generic’ or predictable as the Members ride on cruise control. A final thought: while they managed to lure Dilated Peoples’ Evidence back to produce a couple of tracks, conspicuously absent are the star-studded guests (J-5, Planet Asia, etc.) that had become synonymous with a Swollen Members album. But then again, the underground status and related passion that fueled those first couple of albums is also missing in action.
[UrbNet.com]