What do we expect from The Prodigy in 2015? Probably some forceful rhythms and crunching synths, along with rabble-rousing lyrics and ageing aggression. There’s also a strong chance of garish bass drops and guitar sounds that escaped the grave of nu-metal. Essentially, this is what the band’s sixth LP The Day Is My Enemy has to offer.
The Day Is My Enemy comes five years after Invaders Must Die and nearly 20 years on from the band’s biggest hit, their third LP The Fat of the Land. Despite such distance, there are plenty of commonalities between the three records. Track titles such as Nasty, Rok-Weiler and Rebel Radio give you an indication of this record’s prominent meanness. But hey, at least you can’t accuse The Prodigy of breaking character.
Nevertheless, The Day Is My Enemy does contain a few novelties to pique fan interest. The opening number and title-track features Massive Attack/ Tricky collaborator Martina Topley Bird interpolating Ella Fitzgerald’s All Through the Night. Topley Bird’s creamy elegance dresses a militaristic dancefloor bulldozer. The contrast works wonderfully well and it’s a shame she doesn’t show up later in the piece to provide respite from Keith Flint’s barked lead vocals.
The album’s other standout is Ibiza, which features vocals from Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson. Williamson joins The Prodigy to take aim at lazy DJs who get paid stacks of money for plugging in USB sticks. This is a soft target, sure, but it’s an issue that the fuddy-duddy in all of us has probably felt urged to bitch about. Williamson’s snarled mockery is a perfect fit for the video-game punk rock arrangement. As ever, he sounds utterly irascible yet strangely endearing, a la Vyvyan from The Young Ones.
At the same time as demonstrating The Prodigy’s loud, brash strengths, The Day Is My Enemy clearly delineates their limitations, which they seem to have sealed off sometime in the late-‘90s.
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
