Skindred - Union Black

For those of you who don't know them -and I suspect that that's most of you- Skindred are one of the UK's premier rock bands. But they're a rock band with a difference, seamlessly melding metal, hardcore, dubstep and, most importantly, reggae, into a unique sound which they've dubbed "Ragga Metal"
The album opens with the surreal title track that features a slow build up to a Drum n' Bass version of the British National Anthem (yes, really). Hmmm......this can best be described as "interesting". Not the greatest of starts, but fear not, the boys are back on track soon after with a belting track called "Warning" which is so good not even an unwelcome guest appearance by the singer from Papa Roach can fuck it up. From here, things go pretty much as expected and as a package this is far superior to their previous effort, "Shark Bites and Dog Fights". But this is not an album that everyone is going to fully appreciate first time and that some might not appreciate ever, especially fans of the more straightforward rock songs they have done, particularly on "Shark Bites....." but as you get used to the many twists that the album throws at you it becomes better and better. Union Black manages to be both a painfully relevant state of the nation address and a hugely enjoyable party record, which in my mind at least is no small feat.

 Skindred, Yesterday. Nice.