POWERFLO

When he isn't otherwise engaged with the London Symphony Orchestra, CYPRESS HILL legend Sen Dog is frontman with POWERFLO, a magnificent throwback to the early days of rap-metal, with former and current members of BIOHAZARD, FEAR FACTORY and VIO-LENCE serving up the thuggish riffs and concrete-clad punk rock fury. "Gorilla Warfare" is the follow-up to 2017's self-titled debut, which enabled the band to share stages with BODY COUNT and P.O.D. and introduce Sen Dog's ruckus-inciting, street-metal alter ego to the world. It sounds, as the title suggests, like a large number of testosterone-guzzling gorillas kicking the living shit out of each other, but with the gritty discipline of the tightest hardcore bands powering the whole riotous enterprise along. In truth, guitarist Billy Graziadei and bassist Christian Olde Wolbers are confirmed masters of this much-maligned art form, and "Gorilla Warfare" is so obviously badass that it hardly seems worth mentioning. "You still can't fuck with me!" bellows the veteran MC on more than one occasion, summing the whole thing up perfectly. Other bands play at this stuff. POWERFLO live it.

The biggest evolutionary step being made here is that POWERFLO are measurably heavier now than seven years ago. Songs like "I'm A Killer", "You Ain't My Judge" and "Head Strong" are taut with militant, heavy metal intent, secure in a sweet spot between SUICIDAL TENDENCIES West Coast swagger and SEPULTURA's concrete juggernaut. The title track comes close to all-out thrash insanity, but the tightness of the underlying groove keeps everything squarely on the rails. Elsewhere, frenzied exercises in punk rock rabble-rousing like "War Machine" and "The Wrong One" throw raucous gang vocals and old-school street punk hooks into the mix. Aggressive and sonically sharp enough to avoid accusations of nostalgia, the best moments here will make metalheads of a certain age pine for the days when bands like this were fresh and original. Thanks in part to the pedigrees of those involved, "Gorilla Warfare" oozes authenticity and plainly gives no fucks whatsoever about any kind of critical response. The hybrid is the point: metal, punk and hip-hop coming together in a celebration of controlled chaos.

"Isolation" is a savage bolt of lurching, metallic hardcore; "Big Dog" blends Sen Dog's rapid-fire raps with spiky thrash and a bruising, nu-metal pulse; and "Fuck 'Em All" puts POWERFLO's manifesto down for posterity, in an uproarious display of sinewy, pumped-up ignorance and positive energy. And just in case anyone is struggling to work out what's going on here, "Drinkin' Beer And Gettin' Loud" is a rumbling, upbeat paean to the party that brings a little boogie to the beatdown. Throughout it all, Sen Dog is the consummate, not-to-be-fucked with hardcore frontman, with designs on the world's mosh pits. Old-school gorillas on the warpath. What's not to like?