The long-awaited new album from The Prodigy hit the shops on Monday. Here's my attempt to tackle it in some kind of objective fashion. A tough assignment given my love for this evergreen and ever metamorphosing stalwart of the electronica scene.But first, let me set the scene. It's the early 90s and I'm in high school. The older kids are going to clubs and getting into the ecstasy scene, powered by "Hardcore", a sort of mainstream version of Rave with such illustrious luminaries as 2 Unlimited. I dip my toe into the music with a few compilation CDs (they were new and shiny!) including one called Essential Hardcore. My favourite track on there was "Everybody in the place" by someone called the Prodigy. The fad passed and I didn't really get into the scene at all.
Fast forward a few years and I'm smack bang in the middle of my "mosher" phase. Long hair, leather jacket, tight black jeans, the whole shebang. It's the summer of 1995 and I'm at the second ever T-in-the-park festival back when it was held just a mile or two from where I lived in Motherwell. I was there to see some big metal acts (can't rightly recall who at the moment) and my flavour of the month band, Irish rockers Therapy?. I'd had a phenomenal weekend and things were winding down and the last act of the night were getting ready to come onto the main stage. Shrouded in darkness, we could make out some movement but not much of anything else happening on the stage. An expectant lull descended over the tightly-packed crowd and it became quieter than at any other time over the weekend. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon and we were bathed in a pinkish glow both from that and from the elaborate light show that was starting up on the stage. A giant plastic ball, reminiscent of Gladiators, rolled onto the stage as some brooding bass began to pound out of the enormous speakers all around us. Moving as one sprawling body, the crowd instinctively shifted into regimented lines. My booze-addled mind wondered what was going on as a two or three foot space opened up in front of me. Then it dawned on me. This was my own personal dance floor. Suddenly the stage was flushed with light, dazzling us momentarily and a resounding boom of bass almost split the earth asunder. The giant plastic bubble rolled to a halt and it's human hamster occupant (Keith, of course!) burst forth as the first beats of Voodoo People tore an excited scream from every single member of the crowd.
And then we danced.
Dusk became darkness and almost 2 hours later, drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, not to mention completely sober again, I'd just been infected with The Prodigy for the first time live. It's an experience I'll never forget. Since then I've followed their careers like any other fan. I've seen them 3 times live now and they truly know how to put on a show. Their energy and enthusiasm for what they do really transmits to the crowd. Listening to their studio albums has never really hit the same high for me, as you might expect, although I love all of their albums to one extent or another. Sure there are low points on Fat of the Land and Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned but I've yet to be disappointed by a new album. So my excitement and anticipation for Invaders Must Die was tempered by a trepidation that maybe this time they wouldn't quite live up to their previous efforts. I have to admit, on first listen I couldn't help but feel my fears were justified.
The album opens with the title track. It's been available to listen to on Youtube for ages now (and I posted it here in my blog a while ago) so it wasn't a surprise to me. Some people have compared it to the style of Pendulum's more recent offerings and I can see why. But it's definitely got that Prodigy air about it. It's actually pretty distinct from any particular album sound they've done over the years though. A typically pounding bass is overlaid with heavy guitar and a scratchy synth sound that definitely gets my head bobbing. A solid 5 minutes of electro-joy and a strong opener for the album, for me.
Track 2 is Omen, another track which has been available for some time and one which I instantly loved on first listen. Again very Pendulum-esque in the juxtaposition of elements. This one has Keith's vocals over the top and the track is full of mini crescendos that when the break hits just makes you want to get up and dance. This one is sure to become a club favourite much in the same vein of Firestarter. It has just enough "rest break" lulls in the beat combined with it's powerful main theme to make dancing to it an utter joy, I imagine. I only wish it was longer than the 3 and a half minutes it weighs in at.
Thunder took me back to Jilted in the blink of an eye. Reminds me of The Heat (The Energy) a LOT, which is by no means a bad thing. Not much more to say on this one. It wasn't an immediate favourite but after 10 listens it's definitely grown on me and now I love it.
Colours is pure Always Outnumbered... through and through. Rapid drums, pounding bass and a little keyboard tinkling make this one a definite head bobber if not necessarily a floor filler.
It wouldn't seem strange if you found out that the next track, Take me to the Hospital was actually a lost track from the Experience album. It's got that old school hardcore sound to it with the chimes and the squeaky vox augmented with a thumping bass that seems to have been lifted from Fat of the Land. Another great track imho.
Warrior's Dance takes a little while to get going but when it does, wow! It does break down a little in the middle when the pulsating bass isn't tearing your sub woofer a new one but it's still pretty good despite that.
Run with the Wolves is another track from the Always Outnumbered... stable. It's very much like Hotride (minus Juliette Lewis, of course) with that albums signature heavy bass and Keith's aggressive lyrics combining to form what is a pretty decent track in and of itself but one that is perhaps overshadowed by the rest of the album. If this is as low as the album gets, then it's a testament to the quality of Invaders Must Die.
Omen Reprise is (one would imagine) Liam just having some fun with what is clearly one of his personal favourite tracks on the album. It's only just over 2 minutes long but has some nice tweaks on the original heard earlier in the album. It does have more of a Jilted feel to it though which is never unwelcome. Listening to it does kinda make me just want to go back to track 2 though. Likely to be the most remixed track on the album I reckon.
World's on Fire is up next and I take back what I said about Run with the Wolves being the low point of the album. This is definitely it. There's nothing particularly innovative in this one. I like the vox-box modded vocals but the beat is just "ok" which is a rarity for the Prodigy as far as I'm concerned. It also briefly goes off on an Experience tangent that just doesn't really work in the context of this song.
The brilliance is back with a bang in the penultimate track, Piranha. This doesn't really sound like any other Prodigy songs that I can think of off the top of my head. Maxim does the vocals on this one and it's just 4 minutes 5 seconds of energetic booming beats. Great way to finish off the album...
... because the final track feels like it really doesn't belong here at all. It's a complete change of pace from anything I've ever heard the Prodigy do before, in almost every way. It's called Stand Up and if anything it reminds of Dry the Rain by the Beta Band. It's melodic and very light on electro interference. There's a guitar, drums, a wind instrument of some kind and a little bit of synth action between choruses. Guess what? I love it! It's... not... Prodigy... but I love it nevertheless. After the intensity of the rest of the album it's a really chilled out way to wind the album down and once again shows just how genius Liam is at composition.
These opinions arrived after at least a dozen listenthroughs and it is absolutely one of those albums which is a grower. If you love Prodigy, like me, then you wont really care and will have it already. If you love raw power, genius composition, thundering bass and a masterful display of electronic finesse then making Invaders Must Die your next acquisition would be far from a bad move. Turn it up and dance your heart out!
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