by Cory Blackwood
staff editor

Sample heavy dance music may never die, it's just too fun. Ask the British duo Hardknox, who seem all too happy to take samples or the frequency of samples to a new level on their self -titled major-label debut.

Hardknox got their start on Skint records, the indie label that first produced both Fatboy Slim and the Lo-Fidelity Allstars. While their homepage links Hardknox's music to Fatboy Slim, it is much more akin to Prodigy,-all big beats and heavy laden funk without the subtleties or humor of Fatboy mastermind Norman Cook.

Drum and bass, hip-hop, dance and plain rock are all sounds mined by Steve P and Lindy Layton, blending guitar riffs with big beat drums and screamed/rapped vocals into one song. Some efforts are pretty cohesive, such as "Fire Like This," "Coming Back With a Sword" and "Attitude." Other songs seem to trip over the samples and mixed tempos used together. "Who's Money" seems to not know when to speed up or slow down, leaving the listener or the dancer truly lost. Imagine a roomful of dancers trying to "freezeframe" to the beat, and that is the basic effect. Not only is the beat bewildering, but the overabundant sampling of a classic line from the film "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" (if anything from that film can be considered classic) grows old after about the third time it's heard.

Nothing is really new on this album, it's all been done before and better by various techno outfits like Lunatic Calm, The Propellerheads and especially Fatboy Slim. Also, look to the great Beastie Boys and Ministry for samples done right -- cool-yet not overdone.

Ever Since Steve P and Lindy Layton first released a single from their bedroom recording studio, artists from Orgy to Crystal Method, Jungle Brothers, and Faith No More have all gotten the Hardknox remix treatment. This is probably the best place for Hardknox, too, remixing what others have done. They are too busy trying to use everyone else's work to focus on a coherent full-length album of their own. After all, remixing is the ideal playground for those with incredibly short attention spans.

Hardknox managed to release a fun dance album, but nothing more, and on multiple listens, the samples can be a bit irritating.