After a mediocre solo debut, Erik "Everlast" Schrody (part of the Ice-T crew Rhyme Syndicate) joins Daniel "Danny Boy" O'Connor and Leor "DJ Lethal" DiMant to form House of Pain group from Valley Stream, Long Island. Lyrics by Everlast, rhythms by native producer from Riga, Latvia, DJ Lethal, Ralph the Funky Mexican, along with DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill); and Danny Boy I'm not sure what he does but there is, I believe in some sort of hype man role because most of the lyrics are delivered by Everlast.
After a short, confusing intro on simple rhythm, ending with a guy shouting "is the house of pain", comes the absolute, classic banger. Skinny syncopated drum machine, "the house of pain" is scratched in the intro, tight looped trumpet in the background, simple hook; classic sample from "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob & Earl, then second sample, from "Ain't Sayin' Nothin'" by Divine Styler for that squeaky sound that seems to come from a Bomb Squad scratch, rhythm left to breathe intelligently, skinny drum machine quick and syncopated, then syncopated and fast delivery by Everlast, that guessing a very simple killer chorus, he finds himself saying the only "Jump" in loop.
Unfortunately, no other song on this or any other album in their discography is at this level. The following one is another of the best cuts of this tape, "Put Your Head Out": jazzy boom bap with good tight looped sample in the background, lean heavy hard and syncopated drum, simple hook, slow syncopated delivery by Everlast, B-Real by Cypress Hill does better and delivers one of the best verses on the record. The following passage is simply decent and has nothing to do with the previous ones.
Skit, then another simple joint, on a gaunt jazzy boom bap. "Shamrocks and Shenanigans" is the second single on the album, overshadowed by the spatial success of the previous one: gaunt jazzy boom bap, lean syncopated drum machine, slow syncopated delivery by Everlast rehearsing the banger, failing to match "Jump Around". "House of Pain Anthem" features slow syncopated delivery on simple hardcore boom bap, with jazzy vibes and pop hook, just before Everlast offers one of his best flows in "Danny Boy, Danny Boy" spitting ten lines along with Danny Boy, here the rappers are smooth, tight and crisp, hardcore delivery by both on a simple beat with vibrating drum machine.
In the second part of the tape, the songs all become quite similar and mediocre: Everlast repeatedly tries a slow hardcore delivery on jazzy production that rarely works ("Guess Who's Back"). "All My Love" is one of the tunes that come back to stand out: gaunt jazzy boom bap left to breathe, lean tight and syncopated drum machine, then slow syncopated hardcore delivery, simple hook with smooth jazz bridge. It's the closing track before the remixes of the two singles, that one of "Shamrock and Shenanigans" is decent, but the work of that genius of Pete Rock deserves a mention: for "Jump Around", he finds a great rhythm, a masterpiece.
The album, released by Tommy Boy, gets a great success, dragged by the ubiquitous super-hit "Jump Around" which arrives #3 in the pop chart and goes very well in Europe, achieving platinum status in the USA and leading to platinum also the album. Overall, it's a mediocre and acceptable LP: decent funky/jazzy beats accompanying mediocre and banal lyrics, played with a quite basic style by Everlast, whose flow is discreet, but not good despite his several efforts. Major props to DJ Muggs for making this album at least listenable musically.
Highlights: "Jump Around", "Put Your Head Out", "Shamrocks and Shenanigans", "Jump Around (Pete Rock Remix)".
Rating: 6/10.
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