Mikeru On Western World Music Today

It is a mark of the continuing innovative brilliance of Massive Attack that some 20 years into their recording career the listener is still left wondering what exactly their new album will sound like. We’ve already had hip hop soul (ground-breaking debut Blue Lines), production collective as band (Protection), dark rock overlords (Mezzanine) and ornate soundtrack music (the poorly received 100th Window), so what can Heligoland, their first album in seven years, bring?

Well rock, in a way. But while Massive may have explored this territory before, the album is far from a water-treading replay of Mezzanine. Instead, Heligoland is a far warmer, opener and more organic proposition, which sounds unlikely for an album this long in the making but may result from improved relations within the group (100th Window was practically a 3D solo effort).

TV On The Radio are a good point of comparison for Massive Attack’s fifth full album, and not just because that band’s Tunde Adebimpe features on opening track Pray For Rain. Massive Attack appear to have absorbed something of TVOTR’s playfully experimental rock feel, with the result that this is the first Massive album that you can actually imagine a band playing live (for the large part). The Specials’ darker, slower efforts spring to mind occasionally too, as does Blur’s Think Tank (Damon Albarn is another guest here).