Armed to the Teeth (Swollen Members album)

Armed to the Teeth is the fifth studio album by Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members. It was released on October 27, 2009 via Battle Axe/Suburban Noize Records. Production was handled by Rob The Viking, Karim Goldan, DJ Kemo, Metty The Dert Merchant, Moka Only, Roger Swan, Russ Kline, Spawn and Tre Nyce. It features guest appearances from Tre Nyce, Young Kash, Barbie Hatch, Everlast, Glasses Malone, Krondon, Phil Da Agony, Saafir, Slaine, Talib Kweli and Tech N9ne.

Armed to the Teeth
Studio album by Swollen Members
Released	October 27, 2009 (2009-10-27)
Genre	Hip-hop
Length	1:06:35
Label	Battleaxe Suburban Noize
Producer	DJ Kemo Karim Goldan Metty the Dert Merchant Moka Only Rob the Viking Roger Swan Russ Kline Spawn Tre Nyce
Swollen Members chronology
Black Magic (2006) Armed to the Teeth (2009) Greatest Hits: Ten Years of Turmoil (2010)
Singles from Armed to the Teeth
"Warrior" Released: August 25, 2009 "Red Dragon" Released: September 8, 2009 "Bollywood Chick" Released: October 2009 "Porn Star" Released: February 2010

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	62/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
HipHopDX	2.5/5[3]
laut.de	[4]
Now	[5]
RapReviews	7.5/10[6]
The Boston Phoenix	[7]

The album debuted at number 146 on the Billboard 200, number 23 on the Independent Albums and number 5 on the Heatseekers Albums charts, selling 3,400 copies in the first week in the United States.^[8] It also entered the Billboard Canadian Albums at number 19.

It is their first release in three years, as the group had taken a break over the past few years while member Madchild dealt with drug addiction and legal issues. On August 25, 2009, the lead single, "Warrior", was released and peaked at number 94 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. The second single, "Red Dragon", a remix of the track of the same name, performed and produced by former Swollen Members member Moka Only on the album Monsters in the Closet was released on September 8. Three days later, a music video for the lead single "Warrior" was released. On October 19, the full album became listenable on Swollen Members' MySpace page. The third single, "Bollywood Chick", was released around October and the music video was released on November 10 via Swollen Members' YouTube account. The fourth and final single, "Porn Star", was released in early 2010 and music video was released on YouTube via Swollen Members' YouTube account.

Critical reception

Armed to the Teeth was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 62 based on four reviews.^[1]

Emanuel Wallace of RapReviews praised the album, resuming: "the members were certainly armed, and they seem to hit more than they miss".^[6] Chris Faraone of The Boston Phoenix wrote: "at the core of any Swollen Members project--and Armed to the Teeth, their first in three years, is no exception--is a clean, uncomplicated spread of kaleidoscopic semi-pop bangers from producer Rob the Viking".^[7] AllMusic's David Jeffries gave it a mixed review, claiming: "fans hungry for SM material won't mind at all, since after three years a redundant track beats no track, and while all of it seems familiar, the crew deliver the material with new life, suggesting they're mad happy to be back on the grind".^[2] In his negative review for Now, Paul Terefenko stated: "the newest disc from the once-innovative Vancouver group assaults you with 18 contrived, lazy tracks. The best is a seven-year-old re-release, 'Red Dragon', from when Moka Only gave this outfit some class".^[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Reclaim the Throne" (featuring Tre Nyce and Young Kazh)	Shane Bunting Kiley Hendriks Trumaine Lecesne Brandon Doran Robin Hooper	Rob The Viking	3:21
2.	"Pornstar" (featuring Tre Nyce)	Bunting Hendriks Lecesne Hooper Christopher Leigh	Rob The Viking	3:22
3.	"Kyla"	Bunting Hendriks Hooper Kyla LeBlanc	Rob The Viking	3:29
4.	"Bollywood Chick" (featuring Tech N9NE and Tre Nyce)	Bunting Hendriks Aaron D. Yates Lecesne Hooper Karim Goldan	Rob The Viking Karim Goldan	3:09
5.	"Red Dragon"	Bunting Hendriks Daniel Denton	Moka Only	4:46
6.	"Meltdown"	Bunting Hendriks Hooper	Rob The Viking	3:08
7.	"My Life"	Bunting Hooper	Rob The Viking	4:36
8.	"Bang Bang" (featuring Tre Nyce and Young Kazh)	Bunting Hendriks Lecesne Doran Hooper	Rob The Viking	4:38
9.	"Here We Come"	Bunting Hendriks Hooper	Rob The Viking	3:14
10.	"Warrior" (featuring Tre Nyce and Young Kazh)	Bunting Hendriks Lecesne Doran Hooper Leigh	Rob The Viking	4:50
11.	"Certified Dope"	Bunting Hendriks Hooper	Rob The Viking	3:30
12.	"Funeral March" (featuring Saafir and Barbie Hatch)	Bunting Hendriks Reggie Gibson Barbie Hatch Hooper Russ Kline	Rob The Viking Roger Swan Russ Kline	3:51
13.	"Flyest" (featuring Tre Nyce)	Bunting Hendriks Lecesne Hooper	Rob The Viking Tre Nyce	3:34
14.	"Lonely One"	Bunting Hendriks Cristian Bahamonde O. Sinclair Kline	DJ Kemo Spawn	3:27
15.	"Crossfire" (featuring Krondon, Talib Kweli, Phil Da Agony and Tre Nyce)	Hendriks Marvin Jones Talib Kweli Greene Jason Smith Lecesne Bryan Trevitt Hooper	Metty The Dert Merchant Rob The Viking	2:44
16.	"Concerto"	Bunting Hendriks Hooper	Rob The Viking	2:28
17.	"Dumb" (featuring Everlast, Slaine and Tre Nyce)	Bunting Erik Schrody George Carroll Lecesne Hooper	Rob The Viking	3:35
18.	"Real P.I." (featuring Tre Nyce and Glasses Malone)	Bunting Lecesne Charles Penniman Goldan	Karim Goldan	4:53
Total length:				1:06:35

Personnel

• Shane "Madchild" Bunting – vocals, executive producer
• Kiley "Prevail" Hendriks – vocals
• Daniel "Moka Only" Denton – producer
• Robin "Rob The Viking" Hooper – producer, engineering
• Trumaine "Tre Nyce" Lecesne – vocals, producer
• Brandon "Young Kazh" Doran – vocals
• Aaron D. "Tech N9NE" Yates – vocals
• Reggie "Saafir" Gibson – vocals
• Barbie Hatch – vocals
• Marvin "Krondon" Jones – vocals
• Talib Kweli – vocals
• Jason "Phil Da Agony" Smith – vocals
• Erik "Everlast" Schrody – vocals
• George "Slaine" Carroll – vocals
• Charles "Glasses Malone" Penniman – vocals
• Christopher "CJ The Prodigy" Leigh – guitar
• Kyla "Kytami" LeBlanc – electric violin
• Russ Kline – guitar, producer
• "DJ Itchy Ron" Mejia – scratches
• Elmo Chong – violin, cello
• Roy Chong – violin, cello
• Karim Goldan – producer, engineering
• Roger Swan – producer, engineering, mixing
• Cristian "DJ Kemo" Bahamonde – producer, engineering, mixing
• O. "Spawn" Sinclair – producer, engineering
• Bryan "Metty The Dert Merchant" Trevitt – producer, engineering
• Richard "Segal" Huredia – mixing
• Mike Kumagai – mixing
• Kevin Zinger – executive producer, management
• Brad "Daddy X" Xavier – executive producer
• Casey Quintal – art direction, design
• Shock Mansion – skull design
• Fabrice Henssens – photography
• Ivory Daniel – management
• Josh Eldridge – management

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[9]	19
US Billboard 200 (Billboard)[10]	146
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[11]	23
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[12]	5