Roots Rock Riot

Not since Bad Brains hit their stride in the mid-'80s has a band combined reggae, punk, and metal influences as excitingly as Skindred did on its debut album. On follow-up ROOTS ROCK RIOT -- a perfect album title if ever there was one -- the predominant sound is an alloy of speed metal (with all the guttural vocal roar and thunderous clockwork guitar precision that the term implies) and melodic hardcore. What this means is that hooks are everywhere, and sometimes they're soaringly, gorgeously harmonized (as on the hair-raising "Alright") and sometimes they're relatively simple for maximum shout-along ease (as on "Trouble"). Everyone in Skindred is a stone pro, but singer Benji Webbe is the band's primary weapon, a vocalist equally comfortable bellowing in rage, crooning a sufferer's anthem, or deftly riding an 80 mph dancehall rhythm.