For someone principally known for his human beatboxing skills, Killa Kela appears to have utilised very little beatboxing expertise on Amplified!

Which is like Hendrix deciding he’d be better off without his guitar or Björk opting out of irritating shrieking.

It’s missing the point, surely. So instead of Amplified! pushing any boundaries, spitting out attention-grabbing rhythms, it just sounds like any other electro, hip-hop act blasting through a set of pretty average tunes aimed at the dance floor. It’s OK but isn’t particularly exciting or innovative, and it’s fairly relentless in testosterone fuelled shoutiness too. Occasional tracks, such as ‘Situation’, featuring Lateef, and the more poppy ‘Everyday’, ease off on the eardrum assault and provide some welcome light relief.

Not much of Amplified! works that well, though, and despite Kela’s protestations that it’s ‘All Killa, No Filla’, the reality is, it’s anything but.

Jake Bickerton