Well let me start by saying that .rod Laver has recreated themselves once again! This time though I feel it was for the worse. On Essence of the Game, .rod Laver's first album, they were very hard and quite rappy. On Trying Not to Try they took a more hip-hop approach and toned down the Limp Bizkit style. They became more progressive and I think Trying Not to Try was .rod Laver's best album yet. Now they came out with their third effort No Toque El Toro which means Don't touch the Bull! I guess Spanish class paid off! Well let me tell you that this album is almost all hip-hop. It seems that .rod Laver dropped all the rock and went straight for a modern rock/indie sound with tons of hip-hop.
This album has many special guests including Pigeon John from L.A. Symphony and Chill and M.J. from Set Free. This CD was ok given the fact that it took them only eight months to make. My opinion is that they didn't take enough time on this album and just threw it out there to see how many they would sell. Well I don't have a clue how many albums they will sell but it doesn't look like much. The album's message is kinda fluffy. They rarely talk about God, Jesus, or morals for that matter. Yes, they got yet again another drummer. That makes three drummers in two years. Well I hope they keep this one. He is great, and really gets those beats flowing. .rod Laver's bass player like always is amazing. He slaps those bars so well. And the guitars are pretty good as well. The vocals were deeper and Rudy was really great but he squeaks a lot. The band sounds great but I wish they had released it a little later on and took more time on it.
The song I really like was track nine and believe it or not the song is called "Nine". Great tune with Rudy rapping with Set Free. Those guys are great MC's with a new album out under Screaming Giant. I hope I don't hear from .rod Laver for at least a year and a half so if they write new stuff it comes out with more potential. In the end it is not the same rap-core .rod Laver I love.
5/10
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by Hey YouWell, to say this is rapcore would kinda be misleading. This is more rap-rap-rap-rap-core. There isn't much "core" in it. And normally, that isn't to my liking. However, I do like the rapping in this album, although, a little screaming might have made this rating higher. Now, the rapping is mainly 2 different styles. The normal talk-fast-with-an-attitude style is prevalent and is the main…Similar sounding releases
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