Hard to say... How's about 3+?

This album is not easily judged. The first half is really good and consistent, if you like this kind of music. Fire up your amplifiers and prepare to scream, shout and dance. The tracks live from their strong rhythm and are powerful yet melodic, though rarely both at the same time. Anyway, they will incite you to move to the music if you are not completely against hip-hop or metal elements. Some songs stand out by being more melodic and emotional yet not cheesy like "Say baby" and "Little girl" - or just catchy like the average-paced but very powerful "Risin' high".

In the second half this album has a touch of being somewhat unrefined - the songs basically follow the same concept (guitar noise and shouting, sometimes slower, sometimes faster) with very basic melody, if any - and thus the album eventually gets sort of tiring. While the major part of the first seven or eight songs on this cd is catchy and easily remembered, I never managed to remember one of the last five songs (or even to listen one of them completely). Whenever I reach the end of the eighth track ("H-Blockx") I either start the disc over or kick it out of the cd-player.

Don't get me wrong, this cd is not bad at all just because of the last five songs. I'll be nice and give it 4 stars for the sake of the excellent first 8 tracks, even though the rest of the disc falls way short of their quality in my opinion. That's a 4-- though, mind you, because of the severe lack of consistent quality across the album.

On the sound quality side, most instruments are mixed quite nicely, although the treble-heavy percussion stands out a bit too much and the soundscape sounds a bit too wide and sort of artificial - not that this matters much in the projected field of use for this cd. ;)

If you decide to buy this cd after having read this review, remember to do the following: Feed your cd-player - Turn up the volume - Rock out. (- start over after Track 8) "Audiophile" concentrated listening is not called for here. It's a fun record and that's how you should treat it.