Plex

Plex's sophomore solo album is a great deal more polished than previous album Brainstorm. The production is primarily crisp, clean and radio-ready, while Plex's traditional rap delivery is slow and deliberate, so his lyrics about struggle and overcoming adversity are easy to decipher. Demons starts strong with the title track, as catchy steel guitar and banging drums combine to create an up-tempo blues track about defeating demons, both inner and outer. It's a good choice to open the album and also title it after, but by no means is it downhill from there. "New Leaf" is a touching song about maturing and improving yourself over a mellow drum and acoustic guitar combo that's well-suited to the introspective lyrics, while first single and sad break-up song "I Can't Breathe" maintains a bit of humour via its witty wordplay. "P.L.E.X." is a fun, cartoony braggadocio battle track and bonus number "Hotel Bilderberg" is a conspiracy theory-laced collaboration with Touch that has been floating around the 'net for a little while, the muddy, underground beat produced by 9th Uno. Demons also features Rich Kidd on production and vocal appearances from D-Sisive, B. Brown, Fatty Jones, Rellik and Sarah Podemski. If there's any justice, the honest and accessible Demons should expose Plex to a wider audience.