Legion of Boom

1	Starting Over 4:01
2	Born Too Slow 2:59
3	True Grit 5:06
4	The American Way 4:26
5	I Know It's You 5:48
6	Realizer 3:48
7	Broken Glass 3:55
8	Weapons of Mass Distortion 4:50
9	Bound Too Long 6:23
10	Acetone 5:15
11	High and Low 5:23
12	Wide Open 7:23
13	Born Too Slow Director's Cut / Multimedia Track

Barnes & Noble

The marriage of phat dance beats and chunky rock guitars is nothing new in 2004, but L.A. duo the Crystal Method, who've been at it for more than a decade, are among the best matchmakers around. As on their last album, 2001's Tweekend, here Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland team up with some musically inclined pals who give their beefy beats an extra jolt of style. A prime example is the rock-drenched single "Born Too Slow," which moonlights as a soundtrack for the video racing game Need Speed for Underground. The Method men bring to the track a body-grooving pulse, a dance-floor-bred siren call, and new-wavey synths, which are pummeled into shape by muscular guitar riffs courtesy of Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland and the angst-infused wails of former Kyuss throat-man John Garcia -- it's in your face and in your body all at once. As arresting as the song is, the stylistic diversity Jordan and Kirkland flaunt elsewhere is what makes Legion of Boom stick as an album. They utilize BellRays frontwoman Lisa Kekaula's sizzling, R&B-influenced pipes to render "Realizer" a house-inspired techno anthem, but look to floaty coos from actress-singer Milla Jovovich to flavor the beats on "I Know It's You" with a Cocteau Twins-esque, goth-techno sound. Elsewhere, the pair splice vocal snippets from poet Hanifah Walidah (a.k.a. Sha-kay) into the slithering funk of "Bound Too Long," to Missy Elliott-like effect. Toss in their typically throbbing and engrossing big beats (on "Starting Over," for example) -- not to mention contributions from the Roots' beatboxer Rahzel (check him on "American Way") and guitarist Jon Brion -- and you've got a disc with a seriously boombastic punch. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

By late 2003, the bombastic sonic signature of big beat had finally been fully co-opted by the advertising and extreme sports industries. The style's roots had never run much deeper than a few adventurous breakbeats anyway, but attached to everything from pricey spots for cell phones and sports cars to hyper-edited snowboarding highlight reels, big beat inevitably plateaued. When it did, the formula established by the Crystal Method with their 1997 debut became the accepted template. Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland have remained busy children since Vegas, issuing a sophomore full-length and a well-received mix record. They've returned with Legion of Boom, an album that breaks little new ground, but further entrenches the Method as America's finest producers of dance music made for rock & roll people. "Born Too Slow" chops up a slick and dirty Wes Borland guitar riff over thumping bass beats and the decidedly rock yowl of John Garcia (ex-Kyuss); Borland's discordant mayhem later resurfaces for "Weapons of Mass Distortion," which breaks exactly where you expect it to but is nevertheless the kind of throbbing, hedonistic track expensive nightclub sound systems were invented for. The Method tap DJ Swamp for an assist on "The American Way," which establishes a methodical, percussive groove for Rahzel to rap over, and manipulate the moans of Milla Jovovich for the moody "I Know It's You," which glints and flashes like pink neon off the tinted windows of a speeding limo. This is ultimately what separates Jordan and Kirkland's music from the tinfoil beats and breaks of the average advertisement clamoring for hip. Legion of Boom is definitely a product of formula, but it packs the promise of afterhours hanky panky. It causes nocturnal groove instead of shilling for green shaving cream. In short, the Crystal Method's tracks deliver on the escapism their followers can only suggest. Legion of Boom: coming soon to a late-night lounge near you. Johnny Loftus