Although [artist id="1190"]Raekwon[/artist], [artist id="933"]Method Man[/artist] and [artist id="1215"]Ghostface Killah[/artist] are putting out the Wu Massacre album together, you shouldn't consider the trio a group -- their group will always be the [artist id="1025"]Wu-Tang Clan[/artist].

"We're not doing this to win. We're not doing this to bring Wu-Tang to the forefront. We're not doing this to save the group. We're a part of the group," Method Man said recently in New York. "This album could have been done by Deck, U-God and GZA. Either/or, it's still Wu-Tang. The bottom line with this LP, it was something fans always requested. It's like, what else was we doing? It was a given. Hopefully, we can all get back in the studio and get enough time to really work on an LP."

Although Meth and his fellow Clansmen were excited to make Wu Massacre, they didn't get as much time locked in the lab as they wanted. Def Jam was eager to get the album out to ride the wave of the critical success for Meth and Redman's Blackout 2, Ghostface's Wizard of Poetry and Rae's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx ... Pt. II.

"Def Jam put a rush on it," Meth said. "We didn't have a lot of time to work on it. We recorded with no budget. It is what it is. We did this for the fans. It felt good to get in the studio with Rae and Ghost. The future looks bright."

The LP features the three swordsmen and a host of guests, including Ghost's son Sun God and Method Man's close friend Street Life. Only a handful of songs, however, feature Meth, Rae and Ghost together.

"It's a couple of joints on there you're gonna like," Rae said. "We're not all on the same joint, because we think that's kinda corny. 'Let him get his off. Y'all two do that. I don't gotta be there.' Or 'We do that. You don't have to be there.' It's an album to get back on the mic and do what we do over hot beats. When you think of Wu, you look at it as, we make hot albums. We don't make great singles that's gonna take off. We always focus on the body of the work. We focus on the album and make sure you get a chance to vibe with us for an hour or so."

Meth, Rae and Ghost didn't get a lot of time to spend in the studio because of their individual schedules. Some songs were pulled from unreleased recordings, and Ghostface acted as the main curator for the album.

"A lot of the production was dealt with through us playing phone tag," Rae said. "Ghost had a lot to do with really binding the album together. It's a great album. I think the people gonna enjoy it. One thing about me that I could say is, lyrically, it's never been a problem for us to deliver. It's great production on the album. RZA is on there. A couple of other soldiers we work with is on there. If you're a ride-or-die Wu-Tang fan, and you know where we coming from, you're gonna enjoy this one."

One of the LP's immediate standouts is "Meth vs. Chef 2." Over dramatic horns, Rae and Meth trade verses, trying to be iller than the other.

"Sh-- on your crew, n---as it's Wu, rap athlete/ The track shoe bigger than you," Meth rhymes on the record. "I sneeze on the track and get atchu."

Rae answers: "Y'all rappers gonna feel my pain/ But the other way around, when it's going down/ I'm gonna reign."

Are you excited to hear Wu Massacre? Will it tide you over till the next Wu-Tang album? Let us know below!