These days, the rap/rock combinations garnering the most attention involve the gangsta wing of Hip-Hop Nation sitting in with heavy metal groups. Projects like these can be positive in terms of bringing together acts and audiences that wouldn't normally cross paths, and they do make sense in terms of the genres' shared aggro attitude. But hip-hop's suppleness and flow are sometimes lost in the mix, as well as rock's penchant for dumb fun.

2 Skinnee J's, who know how to turn that frown upside down, spend quite a bit of Volumizer, their second major-label album, doing just that. There's a giddy new-wave feel to songs like "Stockholm Love," the first single, and "Secret Frequency," with their crunchy power chords, indelible choruses, and swooping keyboard figures straight outta the Cars' catalog.

But the New York quintet can come on hard as well. They raise the roof on the braggadocio-laden "Horns of Destruction" and "Big Beat Evangelists," on which vocalists J. Guevara and Special J boast that their rhyme enemies "are sorely misinformed like CNN panelists." That comment aside, the J's' frame of reference isn't quite as wide as on their previous effort, !SuperMercado! Here they name-check TV show Babylon 5 and movies such as Starship Troopers and Psycho Starring Vince Vaughan. Ho-hum.

Still, things come together nicely on "Brew Ha Ha!," with its galloping rhythms, jazzy electric piano riffs, and metallic guitar underpinnings. "Girl with the World in Her Eyes" drops science (literally!) and Shakespeare in an attempt to woo a special lady who's seemingly out of reach, while "3 Minutes" is completely off the hook. Never mind that it takes four-and-a-half minutes to complete -- no one said these guys were mathematicians. But they do know how to rock the mic and the house. Those of the gangsta/metal persuasion trying to blow the damn thing down would do well to give Volumizer a listen first and maybe rethink their plans.