UK rnb is alive and kicking. Also, its getting a little stale and by this offering, far too over-produced for its own good. This album would be a lot better if each song were a couple of minutes shorter - thats a pretty big criticism for an album thats only 46 minutes long - an testament to the repetativeness of the songs overall. The edginess that should be there has been overdubbed with clever fills, but lyrically, its as grimy and british as you like, and clever enough for to be counted among the best our litte isle can offer though.
to be fair, the album spits and starts angrily, and finishes pretty strongly too, wit plenty of potential singles, which is probably the point in the end. Cuts 'N'Bruises cuts the mustard and sets the cheeky, bouncy tone, which lasts until about half way through They Still Don't Know - catchy but over done, at which point i go bored, things improved around track 9, Locked - a massive song and perhaps the best example of Asher's vocals, which are somewhere between Outkast Andre3000 and Jay-Z. and from there on in its all good, ending with the stomping Intermediate Rap - one long, slick, impressive sentence that seems to insult most things i've ever done. Which means i probably wouldn't get on with young Ash, and he'd probably shootme. But it'll stay in my CD player for a while I should think.
Words By: John Culkin
