Cypress Hill Doesn’t Let Up on ‘III’

CYPRESS HILL, “Cypress Hill III (Temple of Boom)”; Ruffhouse/Sony (*** 1/2)

Other groups may catch the political heat, but Cypress Hill is every bit as gangsta as its hard-core brethren--and just as funky. “III” finds the South Gate trio the same as they ever were: hooked on B-Real and Sen-Dog’s tales of gunfights, reputation tests and potent marijuana, their sound smoothed out with DJ Muggs’ engaging mix of horn bleats, eerie synthesizer squeals and snapping drum kicks.

By delivering the incendiary street narratives “Throw Your Set in the Air” and “Locotes” with cinematic verve and from the perspective of someone with his back against the wall and his finger on the trigger, Cypress Hill opens itself to accusations of glorifying La Vida Loca --though in fact the songs neither promote nor condemn their subjects.

But the album’s key track is “Illusions,” Cypress Hill’s most important song since “How I Could Just Kill a Man.” Over a meandering, vibraphone-hued track, B-Real speaks with conviction about depression, paranoia and, ultimately, his vulnerability. Like Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Murder Was the Case,” it removes the killer’s mask to show a sensitive individual trying to make sense of the chaos ruling his life.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).