We Are Gathered Here

Although the Fine Arts Militia is led by Public Enemy's Chuck D, don't expect a PE-style sonic onslaught of pummeling samples and mile-a-minute rhymes. Brian Hardgroove is in musical charge here, creating soundscapes that marry elements of funk, rock, and jazz in varying proportions. In these more musically straightforward surroundings, Chuck D is at his most direct, dropping all pretense in favor of calm, rational treatises on topics ranging from global politics in a post-9/11 world (the two-part "A Twisted Sense of God") to cultural commentators so out of touch that they think "rap" and "hip-hop" are interchangeable terms. The points are entirely valid and intelligently addressed, although those Public Enemy listeners who preferred to tune out the lyrics in favor of the Bomb Squad's groundbreaking production style will find it much harder to do that with We Are Gathered Here; for all the power of Hardgroove's musical settings, the focus throughout is entirely on Chuck D, where it belongs.