Natas: www.com

Detroit has a long history of producing rock 'n' roll eccentrics, from pioneering acts like Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop to more recent iconoclasts such as Eminem, Kid Rock, and Insane Clown Posse. Trafficking in the same sort of campy, over-the-top antics as the city's celebrated Caucasian rap superstars is the horror-core "supergroup" Natas, whose latest album has generated substantial underground buzz, not to mention sales. Consisting of veteran rappers Esham, Mastamind, and TNT, Natas embodies many of the worst aspects of Body Count and Insane Clown Posse, with a healthy dose of geeky, Fangoria-style gore thrown in for good measure. Horror-core as a hip-hop subgenre has been dormant for a while, and www.com illustrates why that's not such a bad thing. Lacking the craft and gravity of Gravediggaz and the tongue-in-cheek irreverence of Body Count, the record is just a monotonous collection of blood-splattered threats and boasts, complete with atrocious hair-metal guitar and cheesy haunted-house piano. The few memorable tracks are noteworthy primarily for their unintentional humor. "Cyberkill," for example, proves once again that there's nothing scary about computers or the Internet, and with its ridiculous Internet-related threats, Natas comes off as more silly than frightening. Perhaps the computer theme is appropriate, however, as this uninspired album plays like a hip-hop variation on the flop horror film Dee Snider's Strangeland. Which, frighteningly enough, may have been Natas' intention all along.