What’s revealed is...well, what we’re used to. Beyonce is still a beauty-shop feminist, quick with the smack-downs, and she still describes the rattling rush of love with preternatural poise.

The promising threesome spend most of their time in a creative rut, largely because of an unrelenting adherence to a diet of chunky beats and straightforward battle rhymes -- neither of which is particularly easy to digest.

From the AC/DC-guitar rips of 'So Hott,' the first single, to the tongue-piercing snare of the title song, the album revels in the physicality of rock & roll.

The doggedly retro approach ultimately muzzles the Noise COnspiracy's radical bite. [Nov 2005, p.136]

A retread of a retread. [Nov 2006, p.148]

Hit-and-miss. [Jul 2006, p.104]

This is feel-good stuff, the sound of a rejuvenating artistic vacation. [#12, p.136]

By turns sensual and despondent. [Oct 2004, p.126]

Now, on only their third major-label release, they sound almost middle-aged. [Oct 2007, p.110]

A couple of great amped-up stormers... and a lot of nearly identical songs. [Jun/Jul 2004, p.145]

Around the midway point, just as APC seem handcuffed to despair, they remember that a good protest song should stir the spirit rather than sink it. [Dec 2004, p.140]

An album that begins as a me-against-the-world celebration of self ends as a somber plea for emotional wholeness. [Dec 2006, p.173]

They exult in a catchy send-up of swaggering retro-rock sleaze. [May 2005, p.121]

Give Whirlwind Heat this: The first time out, they've managed to sound exactly like the worst bands downtown New York coughed up in 1982. [May 2003, p.125]

What makes the stop-and-go, drum-thick music on this CD such a smooth ride, is that despite the pout, this is still the same old David. [#12, p.140]

50's signature wit is notably absent, so the fate of G-Unit hinges largely on his posse. [Jan 2004, p.104]

[An] album of sharply assembled rock & roll. [Jun 2007, p.105]

Although their guitar-drums set-up is reminiscent of the White Stripes, the Animals are more interested in the wake-and-bake vibe of haggard hippie bands like Love and the Jefferson Airplane.

This wouldn't be a Squarepusher record if it didn't flip the bird to listeners at some point. [#10, p.126]

Wake Up... is the set of inspired anthems they needed to deliver in '96. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.103]

Congrats, boys, you’ve made Warped’s one millionth girls-suck album.

Denser and more scuzzed-up than Fallen, the album amps everything up to gloriously epic, over-the-top proportions. [Oct 2006, p.129]

Pragmatically exploiting his sure tune sense, his saving falsetto and a command of the political facts well exceeding that of Living With War, he’s turned out the first great protest album of the new dispensation.

The arrangements are so flush with guitar hooks and buoyant harmonies that these tunes are entertaining even when they're not catchy. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.108]

They're so straightforward, you can forget how crafty, even sly, Smash Mouth can get. [Sep 2003, p.129]

Jean's histrionic singing and simplistic lyrics can intensify his material... or derail it via self-parody. [Dec 2003, p.138]

A great deal, unfortunately, fall into chugga-lugga tedium. [#9, p.148]

It’s epic, mercurial, high-impact progressive rock that moves like a whirlwind.