The man himself has said that this is the first album of his to be specifically aimed at the more 'urban' market rather than to have a broader international appeal. If the name 'Phat Trax Vol I' doesn't obviously indicate that to you, then quite frankly, I think you need to get out more. So lets see if all the time taken to conceive his concentrated and filtered vision of urban and desi amalgamation was actually well spent. His record in terms of creating music which 'hits the spot' of international appreciation is second to none, not only with his previous album but also his work on the Stereo Nation's 'Slave 2 Fusion' album, but this is a different thing altogether. This is entering the territory commonly known as the producer's graveyard in which success with a desi sound does by no means guarantee success when the mood created is more urban.

The album starts with what is termed an intro, but is more like a signal of intent. Powerfully conveyed message finished off in rather ungainly fashion with some 'big ups', including Manchester which is always nice.

1st up is 'Dil' which I'm lead to believe is the one being played on all the Asian music video channels. For those misguided fools which may deem judging an album by the first few seconds of each song may be dismissive (and also bemused somewhat) by the apparent sound of a small child giving a government health warning but the old adage 'good things come to those who wait' is as apt as it ever could be in this case. When it does start it, does so with impact, the bass has the punch like the knockout blow of a heavyweight boxer. But this hasn't got just one good feature, great tracks seldom do. A few catchy English lyrics (that make me and Irfan laugh) precede the Punjabi. Its sung with the power and authority that this track demands, both in the English and Punjabi parts.

Next up is 'Aja Soniyeh'; another nice simple bit of bass accompanies the track. It's all about the lyrics and singing in this track, well it is with the Punjabi. The biggest Sin is committed in this track, with MC'ing irrelevant to the song, but partial absolution is granted as the MC'ing across the album as a whole does follow a theme, that being praise of the Phat Trax 'project'. Back the track, lyrics are introspective and contemplative, something that doesn't always mean the track gets the credit it deserves but I'm doing my bit to make sure it does.

The tempo is increased for the track, 'Dil Karda Eh', with the man himself on the vocals. One thing I can guarantee is quality of track, even a bit of relevant MC'ing! But joking aside, it's fantastic and will definately send out a surge of endorphins into the brain. Sung with vigor with the music enveloping and matching the singing perfectly much like how a fitted Shalwaar Kameez clings and almost stalks the curves of a beautiful woman (Sorry, got carried away there, not my fault, I just been watching Bride and Prejudice).

The next track outlines the style introduced by Dr Dre and followed with much success by Raghav and Jay Sean, what I'm trying to say in a very long winded way is that this a RnB type song with, what in this case is, a random sample of Asian music in the background. The sample in question is the legendary Pakistani song 'Sone Di Taveetri' by Noor Jehan. The track isn't half bad, quite good in fact, but after the whole jumping around desi-ness of the other tracks, this is a bit subdued. It defiantly does grow on you and has a very modern sound, one of the DT4U crew reckons this has mainstream potential, good though it is, I would beg to differ.

After the interlude, which purpose seems to be introducing VEE, which it doesn't do adequately is 'Yaara Di Yaari'. This is another very buoyant track, which is what most people would associate with Hunterz. You can't really ask for a better track on debut so I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this little brother. It's follows simple formula, but sometimes simplicity is the key to success and this is a prime example of that.

Did I mention this album was aimed at a more 'Urban' audience? You wouldn't think it with this track, called 'Hai Jamalo.' Does dhol come under RnB or hip-hop? Thought not! The two lines I've written on this are two lines too many. Nothing much can be said about this other than average, very average. Nothing impresses me much about this, not the lyrics nor the singing.

The much-recycled sample from Beyonce's 'Naughty Girl' makes it millionth appearance of the year. Just thought I'd get that out of the way first cos I don't want anything to sound negative about this track from now on. The track in question is 'Tera Pyar' and it's fabulous track. It's a great example of switching between English and Punjabi, sung by the main man. The lyrics are wonderfully descriptive and have the quality of making you want to sing along to them. It forces you to listen closely to the lyrics, which brings the song to life at another level than just listening normally. Even despite the sample, the music is amazing, just an overall wicked track.

Track 10 is 'Nachna' and its gets to the stage where I'm running out of unique superlatives. I'll steal from the title and say this is another PHAT track. The singing is clear and strong as well the lyrics again being spot on. The best way to describe this track is smooth, very very smooth.

For those of you who even bother with the outro on albums, this one is quite amusing.

Hunterz have done it again with what is, in my humble opinion, a hit album. They have managed to keep consistency despite the switch in target audience. The consistency and quality shown, does now give them the opportunity to be mentioned in the same breath as the true 'big shots' of the industry. This combined with the fact that they are one the best live acts I've seen, makes them real all round artists.

I always have my doubts with albums named in self-praise, and I thought the name 'Phat Trax' was just ripe to lay into. I immediately got that glint in my eye and began to sharpen the knives of total humiliation. It is indeed a dangerous tactic to name your album in this manner both in general but especially when I'm around: it's the equivalent of a guy standing, legs apart and telling someone to take their best kick at their genitals. But fortunately in this case, it didn't apply and the reproductive capacity of the person has not been detrimentally affected. This is an extraordinarily good album; don't get many like this in a year. The purists may cry out that they have catered to much to the 'dance floor' side of things but if you can have more than five top notch hit tracks on a single album, I'm certainly not ain't complaining. It's going to take something special to take this albums space in my car system. Overall, I rate it as a massive 8.2 out of 10.