Wraith: Shangri-La

Thanks in large part to their outlandish make-up, Detroit's Insane Clown Posse are generally regarded as a joke band. It's a reputation they're sure to explode with the brilliantly conceived and superbly produced The Wraith: Shangri-La. Their sixth (and possibly final) album, it's intended as a summary and clarification of all they've done before. A concept album of sorts, it admits that, for all their profanity and celebration of bloody murder, the Posse are in fact followers of God ("We're not sorry if we tricked you", they sneer during the closing "The Unveiling"). But that's not to say The Wraith ever descends to smug, Stryper-like platitudes. Far from it--the Posse have their own singular way of entering heaven.

With a crazy ring-master introducing the tracks, the Posse extol the virtues of weed, cheap wine, casual violence and premature death in some of the funniest raps ever, the notion presumably being that eternal grace comes to those who stay true to themselves. This is comedy horror at its finest, backed by a thrilling collage of warped funk, twisted orchestrations and occasional bursts of crushing metal. One disappointment—"Bitch Slappaz", perhaps the most hilariously beastly of their raps, appears in the CD booklet but not on the CD itself. It's a minor niggle--The Wraith is an instant classic. --Dominic Wills

Label: Unknown
Studio: Psychopathic
Released: 2002-11-25
Format: Audio CD

Extras/Features:
Explicit Lyrics, Enhanced