REVIEW: Massive Attack, Mezzanine (Virgin)
- Simon West
The originators of the genre now known as trip-hop, the world's coolest band, return with the long awaited follow-up to 1994's Protection. Is Mezzanine as essential as that album and Blue Lines, their astonishing debut? Oh yes.
Mezzanine kicks off with "Angel", a menacing, ominous rumble that sounds great until the inimitable vocals of reggae legend Horace Andy begin to float over the top, and the wailing guitar kicks in, at which point it sounds simply fantastic. It's got a little darker in the Massive's world - the soul of "Unfinished Sympathy" is still here, but there's significantly more trip than hop. Horace reappears elsewhere on the album, most notably on "Man Next Door." His haunting, delicate voice more than compensates for the absence of a Tricky or a Nicolette on Mezzanine.
Cocteau Twin Liz Fraser is another featured vocalist. She's most effective on current single "Teardrop", which is simply stunning. A haunting melody fading in over a scratchy drumbeat, dramatic piano chords and Fraser's ethereal vocal all combine to weave a spell unbroken for five and a half minutes. Absolutely beautiful. Fraser's only slightly less effective on "Group Four", an almost ambient eight minute epic.
There are weaknesses here as well - "Exchange" is an instrumental that leans rather too close to muzak for comfort, though it's redeemed somewhat by Horace Andy's vocal work over the top of it as "Exchange Part 2". "Dissolved Girl", featuring hitherto unknown vocalist Sarah Jay, is rather ordinary too, a touch of album filler. It's easy to forgive this, however, when the highlights are so bloody high.
At its best, which is most of it, Mezzanine is a brilliant album. Dark, dramatic, but as affecting as the best of Massive Attack's previous work, it's one of only a couple of absolutely essential releases of the year. Peerless is an overused word, but it applies here. Reading about Mezzanine does absolutely no justice to the soaring heights of "Angel," "Teardrop" and first single "Risingson". It's one of those albums that simply refuses to leave the CD player, regardless of what else you've bought since. Go and buy it, for God's sake. Play it loud, in the dark. Still the coolest band in the world. Samples of all tracks are available at http://www.massiveattack.co.uk
