Coded Language

DJ KRUST was, and is, one of the core members of Roni Size's Reprazent collective, the unit which did so much to popularise drum & bass with their 500,000-selling New Forms album in 1997. His solo debut, though, is a world away from the jazzy, airbrushed, chrome-finished feel of the Reprazent release.

The tone is set by opener 'High Plains', all rapid, jittery breakbeats with video-game laser effects streaking across the mix. Most of the other tracks are cut from similar cloth, with the relentlessly mechanical percussion pummelling the listener's head perhaps too insistently. On the title track, the rivet-gun rhythms are offset somewhat by a fiercely-rapped lyric from Saul Williams, the American poet who recently starred in the film Slam.

As a welcome relief from all this scatter-shot frenzy, there are some relatively contemplative passages around the 60% mark of Coded Language, such as the portentous, brass-laden trip hop of 'Guilty'. Another departure is Krust's six-minute dive into classical waters on 'One Moment', a doleful orchestral suite that brings to mind the cantatae and fugues of Estonian composer Arvo Part.

What stops it from being a genuinely impressive release, though, is the sheer monotonous volume and weight of it - nine of the 13 tracks here clock in at over five minutes. And, as technically accomplished as Coded Language is, a full hour and a quarter of this stuff will prove too off-putting for most.