(Golden Era)

From the bomb-dropping opener you can hear what makes State Of The Art different to the Hoods’ back catalogue – musicians. Not the full orchestra of The Hard Road Restrung, although the classical influence does show up a few times. It’s guitar and bass and drums. Members of fellow Adelaide band Lowrider and other musicians are scattered throughout State Of The Art like toppings on a pizza. The chipmunk soul that came to define the Hoods (and a lot of Aussie hip hop around them) is gone. They still use the stop, pause, BAM pattern they specialise in – they’re still recognisable – but there’s been definite forwards momentum. What else is new? A big fancy guest star, for one thing. Pharoahe Monch shows up on the killer Classic Example, full of lines about how they’re hot to death like Joan of Arc and "Bringin’ this shit that got your hands clappin’ / Swingin’ my dick like Dr Manhattan." Their favourite topic – drinking – does get a track devoted to it, but this time it’s about partying yourself to death like their idols have. Appropriately, it’s called Chris Farley. The storytelling they’re best at (seen in over-the-top fantasies like The Sentinel) emerges on Parade Of The Dead, a homage to Romero’s zombie movies complete with the boys surviving a siege and making inventive use of a chainsaw. They finish with Fifty In Five, with Suffa recounting the last 50 years worth of bad news in a downbeat manner reminiscent of The Edge in Numb only less sleepy. Although State Of The Art isn’t quite an instant classic like The Calling, it’s certainly a step up from The Hard Road. Hopefully they keep climbing.

***½

JODY MACGREGOR