On his second album, this pioneering white reggae singjay tried to follow up strongly from his popular
12 Inches of Snow album and its insanely catchy hit single "Informer." He failed.
Murder Love is pleasant enough dancehall reggae, but the essentially derivative nature of his style (which borrows equally from such disparate sources as
Eek-A-Mouse,
Barrington Levy and
Half Pint) is only made more obvious by the plethora of guest artists who come to lend him a hand, and who finally seem to be holding him up like so many crutches.
Junior Reid and
Ninjaman help him start the album off with "Si Wi Dem Nuh Know We," which features three-chord singing and chatting over a one-chord rhythm. Not an auspicious beginning. "Bad Men," which also features
Ninjaman, suffers from a similar problem. "Murder Love" and "Babylon," on which
Snow flies solo, are both melodically flat and rhythmically lackluster. He ends the program with five tracks on which he performs without guests and of those, only "Sexy Girl" generates a notable level of excitement. Despite several enjoyable moments, there's nothing on this album that will motivate you to go back and listen a second time. ~ Rick Anderson