Ghostface Killah & Adian Younge – Twelve Reasons To Die

Leaving aside the elaborate concept behind Twelve Reasons To Die, and just examining the music, it's pretty much all in the win column. Adrian Younge, using the same musicians he collaborated with on the Black Dynamite score, has created a set of soulful, funk-infused set of breaks in which to couch the wild flights of cocaine-sprinkled ghetto fantasy that Ghostface brings to the table. These beats have the same swagger of early RZA, but with some of the dirt knocked off, giving the whole album a clean, slickly-produced sheen.

Ghostface himself continues to blur the lines between autobiography, gangster wish fulfilment and, on this album at least, 1970s horror tropes, and although some of the shine has come off of his complex, rolling delivery, he still spins a good yarn and every track contains some impressive wordplay. Close your eyes and forget the year, and this album could fit comfortably alongside Ironman or Cuban Linx, and guest spots from Inspectah Deck, U God, Cappadonna and other familiar voices reinforce this feeling. Points off for merely aspiring to re-tread the glory days, but props duly awarded for getting it so right. [Bram E, Gieben]