Since its inception, London-based imprint RareNoise has been nothing if not adventurous in cross-genre transcontinental collaborations, and this latest release keeps its reputation intact. Members of New Jersey hip-hop band Dälek, Swedish avant-garde trio Fire! and krautrock legends Faust join forces for a session that has the bold, uncompromising nature one might expect from such a gathering of hardy souls. In fact, there is a kind of skulking, if not menacing, undercurrent that runs through all nine tracks that frequently combusts into a ferocious growl of industrial-edged groove. Grinding synth drones and the feedback-heavy guitar of Mike Mare cohere well with Mats Gustafsson’s guttural tenor saxophone, while rapper Will Brooks has the kind of authoritative, commanding flow and thought-provoking rhymes to suit the gravitas of protest songs. The result is a work of mostly dark, if not disturbing sentiment, but the musical integrity of the players is sufficient to lift the songs beyond any superficial posturing. At the best of times the material invokes the spirit of some of the jazz-hip-hop unions of the Thirsty Ear label a good decade ago, such as forged by Anti-Pop Consortium and Matthew Shipp. In other words, it is a convincing statement by this energised, if not subversive, assembly.