Last 2 Walk

On Last 2 Walk, every track is compelling, with synthesized strings and the usual depth-sounder bass lines inflated with reverb into miniature symphonies.

There's no evidence Three 6 had a fully formed "Most Known Unknown"-styled album in them either, so consider the uneven Last 2 Walk a fair and necessary placeholder effort with a bit of "back to basics" thrown in to satisfy the faithful.

Save for Lyfe Jennings' refreshing cues on 'Hood Star,' there's nothing original about Last.

Last 2 Walk is recommended for those who can get past their banal lyricism, because between the beats and the guest stars on this album they've got a winning combination anyway.

But for all the intricacy on display in the production, the vocals just aren't there.

Three 6 Mafia’s aspiration to evolve seems to have manifested itself on Last 2 Walk, from production to sound to lyrics. Having taken their novel sound to its lofty limits, it is time for the group to change and progress towards another musical frontier. However, their aspirations of progressing by melding Hollywood and the hood have largely failed.

A track like 'Weed, Blow, Pills' shamelessly promotes narcotics and, even worse, goes Mike Jones on us to get its redundant point across, ultimately cementing the main problem with this album: nauseating repetition.

It's easy out there for an Oscar winner, but you'd never know it from these entertainment moguls, who pretend or report that they're still investing in mayhem, misogyny and sales careers whose main drawback is that they can get you arrested.

Last 2 Walk should satisfy longtime Three 6 fans.

Last 2 Walk, its first album since the excellent “Most Known Unknown,” from 2005, sounds like vintage Three 6 Mafia: bruising production, gloriously foul-natured lyrics, single-minded focus on life’s pleasures

All pounding drums and rolling keyboards, this is the Three 6 sound at its most dumbed down. The same could be said for the majority of Walk, which avoids the experimental sounds the group dabbled in on 2005’s "Most Known Unknown" and treads more familiar ground.