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By Corinne Love
Departing Now (Paul Dugdale/Prodigy Street Team)
By Corinne Love
Listening to Prodigy requires an insatiable apetite for noise. Adrenaline almost seeps through the majority of their records.
On it’s fifth studio album, “Invaders Must Die,” the group returns to its root of making glass-shattering music with a warn-your-neighbors approach.
“Invaders Must Die” follows 2004’s quieter release “Always Outnumbered.”
That album was a departure from what is now considered the essential, “Fat of the Land.”
“Fat of the Land” brimmed with controversy. The majority of listeners are familiar with its flagship single “Firestarter” and the dizzyingly perfect “Breathe.”
However, “Fat of the Land” was such a controversial recording that KMart and Wal-Mart pulled it from shelves.
As we all know though, controversy sells records. “Fat of the Land” went on to sell over 2 million units in the United States alone and garnered critical acclaim.
Talk about pressure.
So flash forward to 2008 and Prodigy’s current standing.
After reforming, with most of the original members (Keith Flint, Liam Howlett and Maxim Reality).
For starters, “Invaders Must Die” is a return to the sound of the previous Prodigy albums before the experimental “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.”
The title track , “Invaders Must Die,” can produce feelings of nausea within four minutes. It features a vocal sample that is looped continually over bleeps and 90’s style rave music.
If this sounds like a mish mash of sounds that perhaps shouldn’t go together, don’t fret, the band has been doing this for years.
It’s Prodigy’s trump card as well as it’s double-edged sword.
Known for their innovative style, “Invaders Must Die” at times feels like the B-side to “Fat of the Land.”
Listeners who are still pining for that trademark aggression should look no further than the”Omen” and “Pirranha.”
The album’s standout track is “Take me to the hospital,” sure to please Prodigy fans as well as newcomers. Flint’s gnarly vocals glide over an arrangement so disjointed that it’s briliant.
As a collective, the album flows together with a lot of bass and synths that have been tweaked through an assortment of crazy filters.
The disc is an assortment of stellar tracks pitted with tracks that keep the pace going.
The deluxe edition features the seedy, but clever “Black Smoke.”
It’s the ideal soundscape for any thrill junkie.
