Essex dance pioneers The Prodigy return with their first album in six years and they promise longer player number six ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, is their most ‘violent sounding’ record yet. The Prodigy have always surpassed their contemporaries and have placed themselves above the bar. They possess a boastful legacy and a prosperous future ahead.
I knew this album would start with a bang! Opener and album title track ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ borders on the industrial side with a feel reminiscent of ‘Land of Rape and Honey’ era Ministry. Her voice almost sounds like Alison Goldfrapp‘s on Add N To X‘s ‘Revenge of the Black Regent’. Now on to comeback single ‘Nasty’ which sounds like a Mortal Combat level gone wrong; with lyrics: “Triple X rated. Justice, a waste pit”.
I am loving this album this early in and can see Liam Howlett has kept the edge rolling that he once displayed on ‘Piranha’. An adrenaline is throttled on ‘Rebel Radio’, and there’s a similarity to 90s rave screamer ‘Breathe’ in the beats. There’s an Arabian feel in this electronic stampede that is very enticing. ‘Ibiza’ is a spiralling menace from the word go and features Nottingham’s controversial working class pub brawlers Sleaford Mods. This could be one of the most fitting vocals for any Prodigy collaboration yet. Jason Williamson chanting “What’s he fucking doing?” over a manic cascade of lasers and turmoil. The line that grabs most is, “Straights are eight quid a pack… Fuck that, I’m on the baccy, mate” –. That’s one for current times in the bag.
‘Destroy’ starts off with a lo-fi kids’ keyboard sound sequence, which then enters a realm of manic beats which takes this album back in time to when they first stepped on the scene, with rave classics such as ‘Charly’. Definitely the heaviest track on the album so far, with a see-sawing outro. ‘Wild Frontier’ is a post-modern stab of electro mayhem with tremors of high pitched synth magic. It sounds like it should’ve been in a sci-fi flick from the 80s – Hardware or something along those lines.
‘Rok Weiler’ starts off sounding like Trance banger ‘Binery Finery’ but then changes tempo and sounds as though it’s gone so far out of key that it may never return. Sirens come into the equation reminiscent of the Casualty theme. ‘Beyond The Death Ray‘ is a lot like PiL‘s ‘Order of Death’ and funnily enough, it was used in Hardware for their soundtrack, so maybe there’s a bit of a pattern emerging?
‘Roadblox’ takes a Philip Glass approach, much akin to the tune from Candyman before speeding off on a roller coaster of hectic spells and high-climbing pitch bends. ‘Get Your Fight On’ goes back to the fighting game arcade sound of Streets of Rage. Perhaps they should’ve had Zack De La Rocha sing on this – maybe a guest for a future project?
‘Medicine’ is a hybrid of Arabic energy surfacing a dub induced wave of dance oppression that would have an arena floor thumping. ‘Invisible Sun’ is the calmest song on this record so far on The Day Is My Enemy. ‘Wall of Death’ is Keith Flint‘s pinnacle which is quite fitting, it being the last tune on the album. Audio Bullys would run a mile if this came on at their Gran’s house.
With ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, The Prodigy display a montage of beat-tastic schizoid electronica to be played at the highest possible volume prior to banging your head as hard as you can off a club wall.
[Rating:4.5]
