Reviewed by Steve Hayes

This great example of UK holy hip-hop is conceptual, with the artwork and the album title basing itself on The Matrix movie, as evidenced in the intro track, "What Is The Hip-Hop Matrix". Right from the off, we have a very creative album, in every sense - from beats and cuts from DJ Nightfall (Rob Hinds) - to vocals and delivery from Revolution himself (Otty Warmann). Track two on the album presents the listener with "The Manifesto", cleverly listing the tracks on the CD and explaining the meaning behind each. There are some interesting deliveries across many tracks, including "A Story" with some rap and double tracking and "What's Up Wit Society" with clear and varied flows. In many tracks such as "Imagine That" and "Choose", the British rapper displays a very smooth flowing delivery style. There's also some nice backing vocals on the hooks of a number of tracks ("Party Right"), broken up by tracks like "Between The Stars And The Grave" with samples carrying the hook. We strip down to a beat and delivery on "The Music" which works very well. Content wise we have rhymes about God's work in Otty's life, conscious rap, looking at our messed up society - and offering hope in God. We end with "The Altar Call" - a nice roller to end.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.