Savage - Savage Island

Rating: * * *

Here's the thing. With Savage's fearsome and rare bark, imagine if he turned his vocal talents to something on a more inventive and unique musical bent. Yes, hip-hop is where his roots lie, and he need not ditch it altogether, but like other artists in the genre, Savage sometimes simply goes through the motions on his second album.

Like on the slinky, pulsing dancefloor tune Hot Like Fire, which is bound to be a single, but doesn't quite have the oonst and spark of P Money's Everything, and Bottle From the Bar, a mid-album sleeper.

However, the highlight of Savage Island is a forward-thinking yet unassuming gem called Rock and Sway. It's typically muscular but has an underlying eerie groove and mood reminiscent of Outkast's brilliantly loping Spottieottiedopaliscious. Although it's cut too short and could easily shimmer and wheeze its way through another two-or-so minutes.

Elsewhere the album is a solid statement of passionate, abrasive, and at times humorous hip-hop intent. And the boy from South Auckland writes a mean, bone-crunching hook as his hit Swing is testament to.

That song is a novelty tune for some, but an influential one nonetheless. For starters, even though much of Savage's success comes down to the ringtone and download-hungry generation of music fans, it's the closest a New Zealand artist has got to another How Bizarre in the US with more than 1.5 million sales. To capitalise on this success a longer version of this album was released there on December 23.

You hardly mind that Swing is included here - twice - in remix form even though it was also on his 2005 solo debut, Moonshine. The best of these newer versions is Savage teaming up with like-minded Miami spitter Pitbull, while the bonus track cut with Soulja Boy is playpen stuff in comparison.

What Savage does best is balance out the catchy and melodic side of a song with menace and tension, like current single Wild Out, with the catch cry "Chooohooo", that's so contagious it's itchy; the heavy-handed, fist-thumping opener Knock A Hater Out (with Ganxsta Ridd from fellow Samoan crew Boo Yaa Tribe) is a resolute call to arms and Love the Islands, where Savage pays tribute to the world's island nations and not just his beloved Pacific Islands, is a light-hearted and breezy hip-hop holiday.

Then, with the cute keyboard jaunt of I'm Good (a nod to how life is sweet for him and his family right now) you just want to give Savage a pat on the back and say, "On ya, bro."

Still, giving us a little more of something to "rock and sway" to in the future would not go amiss.

Scott Kara