Blackout is a welcome joint effort (in more than one sense) from two of hip-hop's most entertaining, popular personalities: "two boys possessed by dough, hos and hydros", rap's self-proclaimed Cheech and Chong; Mans Method and Red. As one would expect from an album produced by ex-EPMD man Erick Sermon, many of the tracks tend towards the soporific; it can often be difficult to spot the tune amongst the tub-thumping beats and murky backgrounds. In these instances the distinct voices of our hosts more than compensate, and elsewhere Blackout covers a surprising variety of aural styles; meandering from the stadium-rocking title track to the infectious and irresistible ("Checka" and "Tear It Off") and the inevitably spliffed-out ("Mi Casa" and "The?") via the quickly forgotten and ridiculous ("Fire ina Hole" and "Cereal Killer"). Meth fans might feel a little short-changed by the fact that one of these standouts, "Big Dogs", appeared previously on Tical 2000: Judgement Day, but the whole affair is carried off with such humour, character and deftness of touch that they're unlikely to care. --Paul Philpott