REVIEW: Prodigy, The Fat Of The Land (Maverick/Mute)
- Simon West
On reflection, of course, the Prodigy were always the most likely to succeed in the States. Hard beats, rock guitar, and two of the most terrifying looking frontmen in recent history, plus the best video of the last five years in "Firestarter", almost ensured certain success, at least with the 16-year-old pierced MTV crowd. Does the album meet the hype, though?
Of course. See, this is the Prodigy. There was never much doubt. They've been pushing the boundaries of hard electronic dance music since scary Keith Flint looked like a fairly friendly hippy. The Fat Of The Land, though, is their most accomplished release to date. From the first loops of the guaranteed to offend Wal-Mart "Smack My Bitch Up" to the pure punk John Rotten style-yelping of L7's "Fuel My Fire", this is truly music for the jilted generation, as they say. Something for everyone, from Orb ambient fans to metal-heads. The energy and aggression is palpable throughout. It works so successfully in part due to the man who makes the music, Liam Howlett, and his ability to graft insanely addictive hooks onto some brutal sounding noise.
The two standouts here are probably the singles. "Breathe" is magnificent, able to sound menacing even as it lurches into acoustic guitar breaks, and back into bass and drum explosions. "Firestarter" is simply a true classic. It sounds like it was recorded in some frightening otherworld, and having heard Keith Flint's vocal work on several other tracks here, the shouting can be appreciated as wonderfully restrained. The soundtrack to a thousand violent nightmares.
It's not all aggressive noise though. A stunningly beautiful Indian vocal weaves in and out of "Smack My Bitch Up". It shouldn't work with the pounding synth and bass, but it does. Elsewhere, the Crispian (Kula Shaker) Mills collaboration "Narayan" blends Mill's usual mystical wailing with some restrained bass and keyboard loops, and sole instrumental track "Climbatize" shows the Prodigy can still kick out the jams with the best of them, while "Mindfields" explores almost Depeche Mode-like synth territory.
Chemical Brother's Dig Your Own Hole runs this pretty close, but ultimately brute force wins out. The electronic release of the year, and probably the album of the year across the board so far. Highly recommended - aggression doesn't come much more danceable than this.
