Everlast or his birth name Erik Schrody is a rapper, singer-songwriter, best known for his genre-crossing mix of hip-hop and acoustic-based rock music that will intrigue most any music listener. He first hit stores back in 1990 with his first solo attempt Forever Everlasting, and then teamed up with a few guys to form “House Of Pain.” The band hit stores in 1992 and had a huge hit called “Jump Around.” The band then disbanded in 1996. He then went back to the solo career he started to build and released Whitey Ford Sings the Blues which was a huge success with “What It’s Like.” He also was called by Carlos Santana to help him on a record in 2000 which lead to 9 Grammy’s. In 2007 he was asked to write a track for the T.V. show Saving Grace. The new album which dropped back in September of ’08, begins with the track “Kill The Emperor.”  It begins with a blast of old time horns that are used to introduce kings and queens. It quickly shifts gears with an explosion of drums and beats. The lyrics will quickly grab a hold of you with and kick the shit out of you with lines like “ Fuck the New York times, fuck CNN, Politicians that pretend to be the working mans' friend,” Hurricane Katrina and Asian tsunamis, adolescent mommies and high school snipers, Final days are coming get ready for trial. Americans they live in fifty states of denial, Have a coke and a smile, or some crack in a vile You can even buy a pill to keep you hard for a while for these girls gone wild.” It gets you listening and focusing on them straight away.” The next track people may get offended by, as it’s a Jonny Cash track redone. “Folsom Prison Blues” is turned into a hip-hoped up country version that intrigues listeners to soak the entire track in. “Stone In My Hand” is a pretty cool track that included a sweet sounding beginning, but does start to repeat the title a bit to much during the song, which takes the impact of the song down. The music is pretty cool throughout the entire track. “Anyone” introduces the first ballad of the album. It’s a love story that has twists and turns like normal, but not the extreme to say “I’ll kill anyone for you, Anyone.” With that said is a pretty good track that should receive some attention especially with the additions of the backing vocals it. “Die In Yer Arms” is laid with some hard rock beats with ornery lyrics dealing with sex and death.  “Friend” is laid heavy with Everlast’s favorite instrument the acoustic guitar while “Everyone” has the electric guitar, drums, and a heavy bluesy vocal feel to it. “Everyone” is rich in lyrical genius with the chorus shouting the truth. “Stay” is a weird track that captures you and makes you listen to it, but by then end you are glad you did. It has cool strings involved in much of the track with Everlast’s scruffy sounding vocals. “Letters…” begins with a cool effect and a woman’s voice, that turn into Everlast’s voice. All of the sudden he stops and the effect of the plane or helicopter tracks off. A track about being over seas in the middle of war, he’s writing home to everyone, while he’s thinking about being back home. This is a must listen to track and I’m positive that you will replay it a few dozen times, because it takes that many times to get everything that the song offers.  “Throw A Stone” brings back the strings in a powerful way as they are placed beside some sweet drum work, but it only last a half a minute before “Weakness” takes over with a young child’s voice singing “La la la la.” The track includes more backing female vocals than most of the other tracks and they go great with Everlast’s in this track. The subject matter is strong in content and that may turn a few people off, but it shouldn’t. It’s a pretty good track. “The Ocean” is a pretty cool sounding track with the effects and the beats that are presented to us. The vocals have heavy effects on them for the most part, but it draws you closer to the track. “Let It Go” is a darker sounding love track with a repeating guitar riff and a cool piano in the far background. The last track of the album “Saving Grace” ends the album with an acoustic laid guitar track with additions and combinations of electric guitars too, oh and did I meant ion the keys involved too. Overall this album surprised the hell out of me. I really haven’t paid much attention to Everlast, but I was intrigued by the sound from the myspace page and wanted to do an in-depth review of it. Despite what other reviewers say about the album this is a great album. Those folks will be taking the same approach  and ears to the album as they do other rap album, but place a rock guy in there and mix it up a bit. It would be a shame for you not to take a listen to the album, hit up the myspace page its all there! It’s a very good album that will take the world by storm, good and bad. The content may spark a couple fires with governments and I say let them burn motherfuckers!!!

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