Massive Attack - 100th Window

[DudeAsInCool]

This CD got some nice notices earlier in the year. Check it out..

Massive Attack

100th Window

(Electronica)

by: Warren Tessler

03.10.03

It’s clear from the opening track to Massive Attack’s fourth LP, the dodgy “100th Window,” that the group is still wrestling with the demons which haunted 1998’s “Mezzanine.”  “Future Proof” begins innocuously with a simple synthesizer melody, before slipping into the dark, paranoid regions the last album showcased, complete with droning vocal and hypnotic drum programming.  But what should we expect from a band which supposedly broke up after their last tour, only to re-form sans original member Mushroom?

“100th Window” is a moody album, but 3D and Daddy G do their best to keep the Massive Attack dream of gorgeous song-craft tied to immaculate production alive.  Nowhere is this more evident than on the opening three songs, especially the first Sinead O’Conner collaboration, the stunning “What Your Soul Sings.”  O’Connor’s fragile, angelic voice is the perfect vehicle for this techno torch song which ranks up there with Massive’s best, and her inclusion as female muse this time around is a sheer genius.

Following is the first Horace Andy collaboration, “Everywhen,” and it’s good to know the group can always count on Andy, as his vocals have graced every Massive Attack album over a decade, providing the most consistent sound to the group’s repertoire.   The song is classic Massive paranoid electro-dub, the way the group does it and the way we like it best.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the album is a bit of retread of the first three songs, with O'Connor, 3D, and Andy on vocals for each track, and subsequently, tracks which are not as strong as the openers.  This would't be so terrible if perhaps they changed up the song styles once in a while.  Gone are the joyous, soulful, and jazzy productions of the first two albums, replaced with inferior repetitions of the opening dystopian songs.  I supposesooner or later, a band with such a stellar track record was going to deliver a work which would fall short of the lofty expectations Massive Attack deserves.  Too bad that time is now.

http://www.getunderground.com

[jipper]

Like the thievery corp releases i havent heard this, ive never ben that taken away with massive attack

kernel32 - "hit and miss, mezzanine kicks its lilly whiteboi ass"

[Kernel32]

you can always count on me for a top notch indepth review

[DudeAsInCool]

LOL. Thanx, Kernel, for keeping us all in line.