Consensus Opinion isn’t with me when it comes to Pharaohe Monch, but I guess its also fair to give Consensus Opinion a slight edge here, given that they all discovered his debut solo album, Internal Affairs, back in the day, and we all know you can’t ever step to shit that was forged back then. Not that I don’t love Internal Affairs, of course, but I wasn’t introduced to it until after I had already absorbed and adored his second album, Desire. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s back things up a bit.

Pharoahe Monch is as highly regarded an emcee as they come, but he certainly likes to make his living on the periphery. “Simon Says” may have gotten a lot of attention, but I still just knew him as the guy with that awesome Godzilla-sampling track. It took him eight years to follow up his last album and when we last heard from him (when I first discovered him), Desire was the sort of quiet masterpiece that kept him safely high in status, but low on the radar of club bangers. The centerpiece of that record, his cover of “Welcome to the Terrordome,” was what really got me out of my seat, slapping tabletops and chattering to careless coworkers about its genius. Once again, Consensus Opinion thought him silly to take a stab at a Public Enemy classic and Bomb Squad production, but they were dead wrong. In 2007, I desperately needed someone to breathe life into the Chuck D’s voice of righteous anger and paranoia in the era of George W. Bush. Ever since then, I’ve found PM to be an indispensable part of my musical life, and I accept this latest entry gratefully and without preconceptions.

It’s fair to say that W.A.R. (We Are Renegades) is very similar to Desire in its mix of arcane backpack hop and sweaty soul, but its a little heavier on guest stars and rock diversions. It begins with a lost missive read by Idris Elba revealing a government conspiracy in Afghanistan, which is then propelled by the thunderous “Calculated Almagamation,” a complicated call-to-arms featuring guitar by Vernon Reid, who also appears on the title track, wailing like the good old days and bringing a gospel choir to its knees. Monch transfers this energy into another downbeat classic with “Black Hand Side,” a thoughtful rumination on the working man’s woes and Obama’s politics, featuring Styles P and Phonte.

The extra-curricular folks lead some of the best moments on the album, none better than Jean Grae and Royce da 5’9”, who go toe-to-toe with Monch on “Assassins.” Pounding tracks like that are paired with more esoteric numbers like “Haile Selassie Karate,” with Monch showing he can still wow, rhyming metropolis, Stephanopolous, and esophagus like it ain’t no thang, like the brilliant title was just a throwaway pun.

Probably the biggest misstep on W.A.R. is the strange collaboration with Citizen Cope, “The Grand Illusion,” which unravels into a slowly exhaled ‘90s rock song.

The production on the album doesn’t sparkle maybe as much as some of the best tracks by Black Milk and Alchemist on Desire, but there are moments that come close. The clever “Clap (One Day)” hits hard with a knuckle-down lurching bass drum and a fairly humorous hand-clap outro. And the grand finale, “Still Standing,” featuring Jill Scott, is a sweet note of soulful defiance to end the album.

Sure, Consensus Opinion will surely find W.A.R. lacking when paired against Internal Affairs and even Desire, but what Monch sells you can’t get anywhere else. Let’s enjoy it while it’s in season and hope it doesn’t got away again for another 8 years.