(Internal)

     "Our music ain't hip-hop, trip-hop, garage or jungle, but
     we invite all forms of music back to our house... we
     dissect them, slaughter them, cut 'em up and put 'em back
     together and make new life for the hunted." So says Kao
     Bones who, along with Chili Phats and Killerman Archer,
     squeezes out desolate soul and bruised beats as Genaside
     II. The style fuhrers at The Face have proclaimed it the
     best British release in eons, "an urban soundtrack defining
     NOW" no less, but then they've spent years trying to
     convince us that soft-focus adolescent anorexics in their
     knickers are sexy so what would they know? It ain't pretty,
     but "Hunted" tries to capture the frustration, violence and
     paranoia GII see as defining working class British life in
     the '90s, and on the strongest cuts ("Choose Ya Weapon,"
     "Narra Mine" and Wu Tang collaboration "Basic Killa
     Instinct") it succeeds, conveying a dark desperation that
     usually just sounds contrived and unconvincing on British
     hardcore releases but here sounds deeply felt and
     distressingly authentic... you just know Chili, Kao and
     Killaman would be no fun at your next summer picnic. Only
     problem I have with the rest of the album is ex-Soul II
     Soul singer Rose Windross, featured on half the tracks
     despite having a particularly average voice, intoning the
     lads' tortured tales of stress and alienation with all the
     enthusiasm of a tired night-shift worker hailing a cab. (6)

Grant Smithies