From the start of its bomb-dropping opening track, "The Return," you can immediately hear what makes
State of the Art different than the rest of
the Hilltop Hoods' back catalog: musicians. Not the full orchestra they employed on The Hard Road: Restrung, although the classical influence does show up a few times, but rather guitar and bass and drums. Members of fellow Adelaide band Lowrider as well as other instrumentalists are scattered throughout
State of the Art like toppings on a pizza. The chipmunk soul that came to define
the Hoods (and a lot of Australian hip-hop in their wake) is gone. They still use the stop/pause/BAM pattern they specialize in -- they're still recognizable -- but there's been definite forward momentum. What else is new? A big fancy guest star, for one thing.
Pharoahe Monch shows up on the killer "Classic Example," which is full of lines about how they're hot to death like Joan of Arc and "Bringin' this shit that got your hands clappin'/Swingin' my dick like Dr. Manhattan." Their favorite topic -- drinking -- does get a track devoted to it as usual, but this time it's about partying yourself to death like their idols have rather than just being another ode to beer guzzling. Appropriately, it's called "Chris Farley." The storytelling they're best at, previously seen in over the top fantasies like "The Sentinel," emerges on "Parade of the Dead," a homage to George A. Romero's zombie movies complete with the boys surviving a siege and making inventive use of a chainsaw. They finish with "Fifty in Five," which finds MC
Suffa recounting the last 50 years' worth of bad news in a downbeat manner oddly reminiscent of
the Edge in
U2's "Numb," only less sleepy-sounding. Although
State of the Art isn't quite an instant classic like The Calling, it's certainly a step up from The Hard Road. ~ Jody Macgregor