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Amazon.co.uk Review
It's been seven years since we heard anything from Bristol trip-hop afficionados Massive Attack. Their last outing was (for many) the underwhelming 100th Window, an album created mainly by Robert del Naja (aka 3D), as his partner-in-rhyme Daddy G was on hiatus being, well, a daddy. From the potent, claustrophobic opening track "Pray For Rain"--all tribal drums, bleak atmospheres and the contrastive rich vocals of TV On The Radio's Tumbe Adebimpe--it's clear that Heligoland is a bid for former glories. As the record unfurls through the angular, choppy post-punk of "Babel" (with Martina Topley-Bird), the lurching "Splitting The Atom" (featuring the familiar falsetto of regular Massive Attack vocalist Horace Andy) and the pounding, bass-heavy "Girl I Love You", the feeling grows that this is their strongest work since 1998’s Mezzanine. Unlike that album, the band make regular diversions here into dissonance, especially on "Flat Of The Blade", a wonky parade of bleeps and glitches matched to vocals from Elbow's Guy Garvey. But there are lighter moments too, such as the relatively weightless "Psyche" (again with Topley-Bird), the sparse "Paradise Circus" (featuring the feathery voice of Hope Sandoval) and the plaintive "Saturday Come Slow", with vocals by Damon Albarn. It might not be a Blue Lines II, but Heligoland’s thick production, superb guest performances and dense, stoned atmospheres make it exactly the stellar return to form they obviously aimed for. --Danny McKenna
Review
Startling as this may be to thirtysomethings who grew up in prescribed awe of Massive Attack, but a whole new generation has arisen in the 12 years since their last pivotal album, Mezzanine, a generation to whom the Bristol duo are at best peripheral. So while an army of griping fans and sniping critics will argue that Heligoland doesn’t match their early triumphs, or break as much new ground, there will be younger listeners who hear it as something entirely new and recognise it for the gloomily, beguiling beauty it is.
Well, perhaps not entirely new. There are echoes throughout – of Radiohead, Portishead, even the crunching drums and soaring strings of Timbaland – which might make you think Massive Attack have finally become derivative, until you remember that they actually invented these strange, spooked sounds 20 years ago, only to see them plundered since. They’ve added new sonic flourishes – fidgety TV on the Radio guitars, some skittering Warp Records beats – but the emperors are mostly wearing their old clothes, though more stylishly than in years.
Another minor point: Heligoland could well be Massive Attack’s most consistent album. There are no songs as dazzlingly, blindingly perfect as Unfinished Sympathy, or Teardrop (although the gorgeous, satiny melancholy of Paradise Circus comes desperately close), but nor are there as many lesser tracks hiding in their shadows. The folksy, flimsy Psyche is forgettable, but every other song works its way stealthily and irrevocably under your skin, with that trademark combination of understatement and sonic richness.
Just listen to the gothic magnificence of the opening Pray For Rain, with its death-rattle percussion, mournful organ and mesmeric Tunde Adebimpe vocal, or the creeping, narcotic groove of the closing Atlas Air. In between there are songs as sleepily, dreamily rambling as Splitting the Atom (a return to the ghostly vocal interplay and dubby terrain of Risingson) or as pared down and single-minded as Rush Minute, with its relentlessly lapping waves of bubbling bass and rippling guitars.
Massive Attack spent their first 12 years as breathtaking pioneers, while 99.9% of their rivals might manage ten minutes of such inspiration. They may never be as original again, but as long as they make albums as rich, textured and seductive as Heligoland they will remain one of our most fascinating, extraordinary bands. --Jaime Gill
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the most exhuberant come-back, but...,
This review is from: Heligoland (Audio CD)
Massive Attack.
Just the name itself suggests waves of dubby synths, deep basslines, martial yet half-asleep beats and croony vocals. Sure, they helped define a genre for the 90s, that lame "trip hop" tag so many claimed to be part of and so few deserved, producing much groundbreaking music, especially in the shape of their debut "Blue Lines" (1991), which helped set DJ culture into the mainstream, and "Mezzanine" (1998) that added heavy, howling guitars in the mix to a mostly stunning effect. So, what's to expect from this, their 5th album proper in a mere twenty years career ? Well, as many other reviewers noted, a bit of the same and something different at once. First striking thing is the actual sound of the whole record. Some pointed out a supposed return to the coldness of "Mezzanine", but that's not at all what I hear here. If "100th Window", their 2003 effort, was a letdown to many fans, being more of a 3D solo effort than a collective work, in fact it furthered the post-punk hint "Mezzanine" suggested, replacing the loud guitar shriek with icy electro beats. The results were, to say the least, mixed, but at least it was still seeking forward, sonically speaking. On "Heligoland", by contrast, everything is understated, from the drum patterns to the shy basslines, from a quiet organ part in the background to voices you feel are more dreamt than actually performed. That's a record that almost begs forgiveness for existing at all, rather than punching its pride in your face, which is why it probably won't get among die-hard fans (let alone the mainstream) the same praise as their giddy peaks mentioned above. Take, for example, languid opener "Pray For Rain", magnified by TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe ; on previous records, songs like "Safe From Harm", "Angel", "Protection" and even "Future Proof" were kicking proceedings in panache and style, but here you get a moody lament over a tense rolling drumbeat that keeps things tight but never to the point of explosion. If there's a revolution this time around (and as far as I know nobody pointed this out yet), that's precisely the fact that, for once, Massive Attack seem to have opted for a rather organic simplicity instead of creating the beat monster everyone expected (especially in the wake of the awesome "United Snakes" released in 2006 as the flip to "False Flags", and that could have been a welcome addition here). Yet for all simple it appears, "Heligoland" is a much thought of record, being neither minimal nor easy, it's just that the main body of work hides behind the curtains. As always, the vocalists guestlist must have been quite helpful too : the two Martina Topley-Bird contributions, on the false calmdown "Psyche" and the tense "Babel" shine on, while, oddly, the exquisitely lightweight "Paradise Circus" - an obvious choice for the single - could have been an outtake from that singer's great LP, "Blue God"... except that it's performed (almost haunted, more like) by ex-Mazzy Star diva Hope Sandoval. Also, while not being a big Elbow fan to be frank, I have to give an accolade to their frontman Guy Garvey, who provides his wonderful, almost atonal falsetto on "Flat Of The Blade", making that difficult seemingly weird song sound like an early Peter Gabriel lost gem. Overall the record is less diverse but more consistent than other Massive LPs ; like another reviewer rightly pointed out, there's no real standout tracks yet there's no filler either (I still can't figure out, though, why Damon Albarn has been casted for the relatively dull "Saturday Come Slow", apart from his obvious friendship with the band). Still, for all great those guests' performances are (and it has to be noted that for each one of them, the backing tracks seem to have been made up especially this time more than ever), it's from 3D himself and regular partner Horace Andy that the best comes again here ; at first together with Daddy G. on the narcotic anthem "Splitting The Atom", then the latter delivers on "Girl I Love You", which despite what its unworthy title might suggest, is a broody reggae-rock hybrid, driven by an epileptic bassline, while, like on "100th Window", the former gets to sound alarmingly worried and warmly seductive at the same time. At that, "Rush Minute" and "Atlas Air" are arguably the best things here, almost towers of song reaching the same heights the frightening "Antistar" did as the closer on the much maligned predecessor to this album. So overall, "Heligoland" might not be as groundbreaking as the stuff Massive Attack are most known for, but it showcases a collective (with the back of Daddy G, largely absent from the previous decade's output) daring to experiment in his own field, which will be fair enough for some, and disappointing for others. But believe me, a bit like their underrated "Protection" (1994), that beast of a sensitive record (their best effort in my opinion, still), this really, almost physically, GROWS on you.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A return to form with a little help from the BBC,
By
This review is from: Heligoland (Audio CD)
From 100th Window I can remember "Everywhen" and that was the sole standout track for me. Heligoland is an album which I listen to all the way through without skipping too often even though the final track is nearly 10minutes.
Had I been a major hardcore fan I would've known that Paradise Circus was abridged for the theme music to the BBC cop series "Luther", so I had already heard it at least 10 times without knowing it was them - welcome surprise when I bought the album, but Pray For Rain is an addictive introduction track with a bridge that's almost at the end of the song, so nice and different. Mezzanine being 13 years ago I'm not bothered about holding them up to the standard of an album I don't listen to anymore, their latest album is the best I've heard in a long time and is as much of a grower as their other albums.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Took me a while,
By
This review is from: Heligoland (Audio CD)
I was introduced to Massive Attack by my daughter and immediately liked their last CD. This one however took me a while. My first thought was 'can't see me playing this much' but I left it in the car on the CD changer and gradually got used to it and now really appreciates the depths and nuances of the music.
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