website: arsonists.com

The statement made by David Toop, renown writer of "Rap Attack", that ‘hip hop was a music, originally meant for 12" releases’, just reflects what I am thinking now: hip hop albums suck. At least lots of them, even the ones with good songs on ‘em. There are too many albums now that are compilations by one artist. That’s not what an album is supposed to be. An album can make wack songs sound good, just because they are embedded in a concept, a flow, a unique feeling that makes the album complete, a ‘one’, gives it remembrance, gives it life as a one piece of art. Listen to Marvin Gaye’s "What’s Goin’ On", Public Enemy’s "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" or De La Soul’s "3 Feet High And Rising". Then compare them to High & Mighty’s "Home Field Advantage", Swollen Members’ "Blanace" and Arsonists’ "As The World Burns".

One third of the tracks on this record here were previously released on their own 12"es. And although they reworked the oldest cuts "Session" and "Halloween", those tracks are at least 3 years old, and just sound accordingly dated. What is lacking, is a common ground for these tracks to grow from. A background that holds the cuts together and combines these 21 songs to one album.

Well, if you are one of the few that hasn’t yet tried to get hold of a Arsonists record, you will be glad to see that, as said, all the 12" releases are on here: the still unmesswitable "Blaze", the surprisingly often dissed "Venom" (that track is nice!!), the slept on "Seed" and the beautiful "Flashback". Add to this an extra host of dope tracks (like "Worlds Collide", "Shit Ain’t Sweet"), and you got a nice and dope collection, but not album.

Especially remarkable is "Lunchroom Take-Out". This Q-Unique and Swel laced track has the Arsonists bang on tables, while the Emcees flow to take the other out. This is interesting because it’s something new. With decent Emcees now being a dime a dozen, you can’t just come with your above average rhymes, above average beats and think you will take over the world. The Arsonists know how to spit nicely though, check this from "Backdraft", a lyrical assault track, from the first to the last second: "ay yo man all your fire stations cause these rappers burn through molecules / it's possible rockin’ you from your pores to your follicles / droppin’ true skills / worldwide / we rip it unrestricted, my ends terrific / label this here, a pyroglyphic". Or check the dope concept of "Rhyme Time Travel", where Q-Unique spits perfect ’79, ’88 and ’99 type of rhymes.

While there is nothing wrong with this here, no track that is wack, and even "Pyromaniax" will grow on you after a while and the lyrics are more than nice, it’s nevertheless somewhat unsatisfying. Here comes the album concept in again. A good album is better than the sum of all songs. This here is really nice, but it’s just missing that.