The Prodigy have emerged from the dark mosh pits of hellfire to claw back their claim to the throne of electronic rave with their unexpected new album, No Tourists. Released on the second of November of this year, with 10 tracks, No Tourists is exceptionally jarring in its brevity. It is a rickety rollercoaster of sound that unleashes the demonic power of rave in a harmoniously angelic composition. It leaves you on edge, spirals you through intense, disturbed heavy guitar, synth and clattering sounds and hurls you back to the old glory of albums like Music for the Jilted Generation with its reminiscent explosiveness.
Liam Howlett, the songwriter and producer, establishes this album as a call for escapism and a big middle finger to the modern societal idle conformity of posers and fakers. “It’s about reaching out further to find another alternative route where the danger and excitement may be to feel more alive… not accepting that you can just be a tourist.” Think taking the road less travelled, in a more Mad Max cut-throat style. The opening track, ‘Need Some1’, feels right at home for the longtime Prodigy fan, with its glass-smashing, soul splitting sound. ‘Light up The Sky’ reinforces the vitality of ‘Invaders Must Die’ with new fuel to the fire. The collaboration with the American hip hop band, ho9909, is particularly invigorating and inextinguishable like the insatiable hunger of an electrical fire.
Twenty-eight years on from their humble mixtape beginnings, keyboardist Liam Howlett and vocalists, Maxim and Keith Flint, are as resilient and relentless as ever with this smashing, menacing, nostalgic album. The Prodigy prove that they still have what it takes to make brain-melting sound without showing the slashes of age. The thumping tune of Timebomb Zone marks current influences with its piercing yet distorted club-esque vocals. The group is back to its thought-destroying aggression, so plunge into the mouth of the beast.
Image: Silver Blue via flickr