In Brief

** 1/2 Gravediggaz, “6 Feet Deep,” Gee Street/Island. This New York foursome is much like Onyx, whose frenetic, testosterone-laden rap breathed new life into the genre in ’92. “6 Feet Deep” is less explosive than Onyx’s album but exceptions include such grim raps as “1-800-Suicide” and “Diary of a Madman,” which push hard-core into an entirely new realm--call it gore-core.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).