America's favorite hip-hop band, The Roots, are back and putting a good feeling on your brain with their latest album, Phrenology. This conscious minded crew of hip-hop musicians is composed of Black Thought (emcee), ?uestlove (drums), Leonard Hubbard (bass), Kamal (keys), Scratch (deejay), Ben Kenney, Rahzel (beatboxer) and Malik B.

The Roots present one of their most diverse albums to date covering genres such as punk on '!!!!!!!', house/trance on the bonus track, lo-fi rock on 'The Seed (2.0),' sci-fi horror at the end of 'Water,' and of course band-induced hip-hop. The resulting product is a rather impressive masterpiece bent on captivating those with open minds.

'The Seed (2.0)' is a captivating mix of lo-fi rock and hip-hop, which features Cody Chesnutt's scintillating chorus. Laid down over a nice beat, 'Water' provides a message encouraging everyone to stop using drugs and get over the high. 'Sacrifice' is an uplifting message telling everyone "If you gonna reach something in life / you ain't gonna get it unless / you give a little bit of sacrifice."

Phrenology is made great by its use of real instruments. The live effect presented by The Roots makes their music sound so real, intense and passionate. Although the album is quite diverse and slow in spots, overall it's a pleasurable piece of hip-hop progression.

Click here to buy the album at amazon.com