In Brief

* * * Body Count, “Violent Demise: The Last Days,” Virgin. In an ironic twist, Ice-T has become much more relevant as a hard-rock lead singer than as a rapper. While he hasn’t lost his allegiance to the hard streets of South-Central, his urgent, energetic raps/rants seem tailor-made for the belligerent, screeching grooves found on Body Count’s third album. The sexually explicit “Strippers,” the clever “Root of All Evil” and the wildly thrashing “My Way” are all thematically over the top, but provide highly entertaining listening.

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