With nearly a decade of experience between Third Eye Vision and their latest release, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a cohesive album from Bay Area indie hip-hop octet Hieroglyphics. Yet the trends in structure and lyrical substance since the break suggest that the years have bred more division than unity: Tracks on 2007’s purportedly group effort are largely individual, and while this allows Del to reestablish himself as Hiero’s leading man on six of 14 tracks, it’s hard not to wonder if all the album’s nonremixes aren’t just scraps from his solo project (also set for release this year).

In addition, aside from the usual confrontational affirmations of greatness, there’s no collective philosophy and no content consistency on issues as simple as whether or not to reference females in respectful terms.

Throw in the fact that every track’s a throwback, and that only two slots claim the entire ensemble – a remix of Third Eye’s “”You Never Knew”” and “”Heat,”” another remix, this time off a B-side released in 1999 – and the undertones of many a lazy stanza once worthy of rewind now hint that Hiero, as a whole, is on pause.