Demon Boyz, Hijack, Silver Bullet, Gunshot - arguably the most well known artists from the older school UK hip hop era (to the average underground hip hop head with decent taste). Their early singles and albums were all near perfect gems and rightfully earnt them legendary status in the UK scene.
Followup and later material from these artists was not always quite up to the very high standards set by their earlier work but the Demonz "Original Guidance" is an example of coming close to their best work but suffering a couple letdowns ...
It does starts off very, very impressively with what is one of my all time favourite Demonz songs in the form of the title track "Original Guidance". The track begins with church bells and a horror movie "Omen" type vocal sample which sets the scene for a very dark, hard track discussing satan, god and religion and the fact that the Demon Boyz are not lucifer's disciples despite their group name possibly suggesting so - "True we're called the Demonz people get the wrong idea, get the wrong information think we deal with fear ...". The song is a very rugged affair driven by a hard hitting beat and a strong, heavy, menacing bassline with the church bells continuing off and on throughout. Mike J and Demon D get one verse each and switch nicely between ragga and non-ragga flows and complement each other very well and some wicked cutting by DJ Pogo (i think?) makes the track quite complete and is 10/10 for me.
"Law Abiding Citizen" is basically their version of "f*** the Police" and their middle finger to the mistreatment, racism and brutality by the cops against the black man in the UK. Musically it's somewhat of a throwback to the sound of their first album mixed with something that NWA or Cube would've created in their heydays. Mid tempo raw drums, groovy guitar strumming and basslines dropping in and out with some subtle yet almost gorgeous DJ work kicking in for the last minute of the track makes it another top notch song with a justifiably angry message to the piggies out there.
"Element of Speed" starts off with some reggae tinged singing over a dubby type bassline and a totally funky neck cracking beat and this beat carries the song. Another heavy bassline is evident as is the "Slow Down" Brand Nubian sample as are various horn sounds. The track has the rather unique to hip hop theme of slowing down whilst behind the wheel of your car whilst driving ! Sorta aimed more at high rollers, drug pushers and the like though to basically check themselves before they wreck themselves. In an alternate universe where hardcore hip hop tracks were used for commericals this song would be great for a government anti-speeding on the roads campaign.
A Lalo Schafrin styled 70's movie soundtrack guitar sample kicks off the very nice "Outer National Karate" jammy. This addictive sample sits behind the whole track along with rather rapid beats and even faster rhymes from Mike J and Demon D - both of them are on high speed rhyme attack here and it is truly something to behold - especially Mike J who proves on this track why I personally consider him as one of the greater MC's of all time and he actually picks up the pace vocally with ease as the song progresses. An afro centrically themed track which has that "classic hardcore UK sound" that wouldn't be out of place on Hijack's "Horns ..." LP.
Unfortunately the Gold Medal album quest loses steam drastically for me with the next two tracks "Junglist" and "Jungle Dett". Both are instrumental Jungle tracks (for those who don't know "Jungle" is a music combining high BPM techno/dance and ragga/dub styles). Jungle always sat too closely to dance music for my liking and therefore both these tracks always earnt the FFWD treatment from me. 15 years later I must admit I can somewhat tolerate these tracks and this style of music and although I'd be the last person in the world to make excuses for lesser tracks on someone's album, Jungle was starting to make waves in the UK at the time of this album and they were on Rebel MC's mostly jungle Tribal Bass label so I guess that had something to do with it ... anyway back to the hip hop ...
... which we do happily hear again with "Glimity Glamity". A song which borrows a very familiar bassline, early 90's Lords of the Underground horns and Das Efx's (and many others) "They want EFX" often used funky, funky, funky guitar sample. Nothing too original about this one musically but at least it's 100% unashamedly hip hop and Mike J and Demon D give us their always impressive ragga/non-ragga vocal gymnastics and I am even more amazed by the DJ work on this one. Simply a solid track without being as outstanding as a couple earlier album highlights.
"Sweet Sweet Jamaica" however pitches another curveball towards this listener. It's a 100% Mike J ragga chatted track and hard to even call the beat on this one "hip hop". It's far from wack, it's somewhat enjoyable to listen to and Mike J shows us another side of his vocal abilities but well it's not really what I want to hear on a "golden era" UK hip hop album.
If the next song "Junglist" (which is now the vocal version of the earlier instrumental) has you thinking you have accidentally skipped to a Rebel MC album in your six CD changer you wouldn't be blamed for thinking so. As mentioned before this album was released on the Rebel's label and this song may as well have been ripped directly off one of the Rebel's later LPs (and yes it was produced by him). In fact I'm expecting to hear Tenor Fly drop a verse on this track at any time. I won't deny liking it as I really dig the vocal style on this track of Mike J as he is beautifully going absolutely hell for leather hyperspeed on the mic (whilst Demon D can't quite keep up with the speed of this beat and was probably glad the whole album wasn't like this!). As it does remind me of Rebel MC's work which I am a fan of I can't complain although once again from a purists point of view it doesn't quite suit a hip hop album.
However "Hocus Pocus" DOES suit a hip hop album and it is one of the top choice jams on this album with a hardcore sound and feel not unlike the opening title track. In fact this would be another perfect song to play to someone as an example of a classic hardcore UK track. Rough and rugged rhymes and beats are in full effect on this one and the MC's are on the mic in full braggadocious battle stance telling you how good they are and not to f*** with them - and yes they are GOOD and no you cannot f*** with them coz you'll come off 2nd best ! Classic DJ "cutting up s**t in the chorus" work is on show here again and just tops off a track of hip hop brilliance. "Pure roughneck business ..."
"Dett" finds us with another track that Rebel MC would've loved to have rhymed over circa "Rebel Music" era. This one is far less on the jungle tip musically though as it's simply the kind of high speed funky breakbeat you'd hear in 1988 with a pronounced 1-2-3-4 dub type bassline and horn stabs throughout. The mic controllers both drop rapid fire ragga rhymes on this one and furious DJ mastery adds to the appeal of this one. No great depth of creative genius involved with this track but it's simply a rapid, rugged showcase of the Demonz combined talents and as Mike J professes in the track it is indeed WICKED !
"Meditation" - this is THIRD of the instro's on this album. It is a lot better than the jungle ones though as it is 100% raw head nodding hip hop beats this time and is actually crying out for an MC to bless it - it actually reminds me of the beats on Mobb Deep's "Hell on Earth" album or a 2nd or 3rd Cypress Hill album DJ Muggs production. However no MC’s to be heard here. I really like this one and am not mad at all with it closing out the album but it's a shame that only 9 of 12 tracks on this album came with vocals.
If i was scoring this album i'd be close to giving it 9/10 as the good songs are almost incredible but it's such a crying shame that the jungle instrumental material made an appearance here which tarnished the flow of an otherwise superb LP. Get it by all means anyway as there is no doubt that it is a UK hip hop essential ...
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