House Of Pain Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again CD

House Of Pain's third album is a murky, nightmarish soundscape that curls around the listener like a cloud of pot smoke. The minor-key synth chords and simple, bass-heavy beats provided by D.J. Lethal, and the rough, husky voices of Everlast and Danny Boy O'Connor paint a picture of grim urban desolation, as eerie as it is urgent. House Of Pain employs none of the tongue-twisting vocal gymnastics and erratic phrasing that are staples of modern hip-hop. Rather, Everlast and O'Connor come off like groovy stormtroopers, declaiming with a brutish immediacy and rhythmic simplicity that connect like a kidney punch.

Guests Guru ("Fed Up" remix) and Sadat X ("Heart Full Of Sorrow") expand the sonic horizons of TRUTH CRUSHED with their sinuous contributions, but the bottom line here is the unvarnished brutality of the streets. This is the world represented on the ominous "The Have Nots" and the uncompromising "Choose Your Poison." Miles away from the bounce and levity of House Of Pain's early work, TRUTH CRUSHED is a lethal dose of hard-core hip-hop that makes no concessions to commerciality.

Having found its voice on Same as It Ever Was, House of Pain delivered an equally captivating effort with its third album, Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again. Being Anglo rappers in a genre that had grown increasingly hostile toward whites, Everlast and Danny Boy encountered their share of racism and bigotry. And they responded by being unapologetically street and hardcore, while bragging about their Irish heritage. On the whole, the album's subject matter isn't very substantial -- the group still spends too much time boasting. But as was also the case with Same as It Ever Was, the LP is impossible to resist thanks to House of Pain's insanely captivating hooks and Everlast's twisted style of rapping. ~ Alex Henderson

Recorded at Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, California.

Recorded at Ameraycan Studios, North Hollywood, Calfornia.

Audio Mixer: Ross Donaldson.

Recording information: Ameraucan Studios, North Hollywood, CA.

House Of Pain: Everlast, Danny Boy O'Connor (vocals); D.J. Lethal.

Additional personnel: Guru, Sadat X, Divine Styler, Cockni O'Dire (vocals).

Q (12/96, p.134) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "Dubious Irish roots and urban hooliganism always seemed a rather narrow formula on which to base an entire pop career, even for a rap group....the music's the same--poppy hip hop spliced with some jazzy touches--but there's nothing as memorable as `Jump Around.'..."
The Source (12/96, p.136) - 3 Mics (out of 5) - "...The album's primary strength rests in the solid, understated texture provided by DJ Lethal..."
Rap Pages (11/96, p.36) - "...Sounds like HOP have something substantially more profound on queue than the drunken bounce of trademark jigs like `Jump Around'....keeps moving with murky tracks..."