The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die [Album]

Cooking Vinyl

March 18, 2009, 05:59 PM

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The Prodigy have been making music since I was in Comprehensive school. Me and my mates used to slam on all the classics such as "Fire" and "Charlie Says" and be amazed by how different it was to anything we had ever heard before. This was before they had garnered any major commercial success a la Fat of the Land era. Skip forward to that and I remember some off the walls character in Eastenders hiding in his room blasting out "Firestarter". The prodigy had officially returned. This kept happening for me and I have followed this band inadvertently and bought their albums from first to most recent. Thus far no complaints. Fifteen or so years on from their original album what does their newest release hold? Surely the ever aging Prodigy have to be losing some of their cool? Far from it, they are fucking cooler than ever and are still showing others how electronic punk music should really be done.

Kicking in with title track Invaders Must Die you are greeted with a welcome return to The Prodigy of old. Minimal vocals repeating the theme "Invaders must Die" matched with some evil sounding synths. What makes Invaders Must Die amazing though is the beats are so much better than early Prodigy. The attention to break beat detail in this song is immense and for a few tracks I am producing myself I have now even gone back to the drawing board because of this one song alone.

Swiftly following on into Omen. This track [and first single] really does remind me of the earlier Prodigy material [music for the Jilted Generation and prior] and sees the welcome return of Keith [now Keef] Flint and Maxim on vocals making it easily accessible for any Prodigy fan. The freaky xylophone part really makes this song for me and I am sitting here for the remainder of this review with a big Prodigy induced smile on my face.

Thunder is equally as impressive and has a sample that really makes the track from the "Rasta Peace Song" which was written by Trevor Joe. Brother Culture's vocals on the track makes this track an instant Ragga classic. The synths chosen to sit behind it all again demonstrate old Prodigy and yet again I find myself uncontrollably raving in my chair.

Colours is slightly more reminiscent of The Prodigys last album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned which although many critics hated, I loved due to their use of more dancey, even poppier material sampling Michael Jackson at one point. Pretty simple track here and to me this is the first lull in the album. The track isn't bad, it's just not as good as the first three.

Take me to the Hospital is a sick song with lots of mini beats falling behind the main driving rhythm which makes for a really interesting listen. Lot's going on, lot's of samples, and lots of Prodigy to it. Warrior's Dance showcases an almost 70's porn intro which follows with a woman's vocal which I believe is a sample from an old classic dance track. This is the danciest track on the album although it is of course dancey in a Prodigy break beat kind of way as opposed to a four on the floor stereotypical dance way.

Run with the Wolves is the worst produced track on the album and sounds much more lo-fi than the others. I attribute this to Liam having to produce the real drums that are played by Dave Grohl. In this instance I think it would have been beneficial for him to bring in n engineer that specializes in real drum recordings to really make the live drums pop. Considering who is involved in this track it is actually probably the most disappointing point on the album for me. Next follows an Omen Reprise which doesn't have the lyrics "The Writings on the Wall" in it but repeats "You Won't go away" over ethereal sounding synths and violins while a nice heavy bass offers the contrast.

Pirahna [don't blame me for the spelling, that's how they spelt it!] showcases a solo Maxim vocal and during the middle with the "3,2,1,0" sample and the synthesizer sound choice I am again transferred back to 1993/95 and feel 15 again. Ah! The good ole days. "Too close, you're too close to the wire".

Final track Stand Up also features Dave Grohl on drums, and again the real drum production is evident in that it lacks a LOT of the oomph that Liam gets from his electronica. Weirdly this is a nice come down track and reminds me of the stuff Fat Boy Slim used to do but in a very Prodigy-esque kinda way.

If you have ever liked the Prodigy at any point since the beginning of their careers then you will like this album, particularly if you LOVED the early Prodigy but fell off the wagon during or after Fat of the Land. Liam Howlett should spend a bit of time working more with live drums as he had what is possibly the worlds best drummer on his record and unfortunately for him it doesn't really show that well. Sure the beats he plays are great it's just the production let it down a little. A welcome return to The Prodigy of old and although there is not necessarily anything brand new hear this is a Sonic masterpiece that has been crafted like only Liam Howlett can do it.

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