MASSIVE ATTACK - Heligoland

February 12, 2010 > Releases

Massive Attack’s first album came out when I was 11. ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ was one of the lasting songs of my childhood memory. I used to listen to ‘Protection’ when i was getting my first teenage kicks and ‘Mezzanine’ was the beautiful soundtrack to our pre-Millennial paranoia.I remember everything sounding so fresh, so weird- a mutated future music, taking soul, hip-hip, rare groove, ska, even punk and creating something so exciting and relevant it was almost frightening.

When i listen to ‘Blue Lines’ and the snare drums and organ of ‘One Love’ kick in, these emotions re-emerge. It still sounds so fresh. When the piano kicks in right at the end, my blood runs cold.

So ‘Heligoland’ is a disappointment. Of course, it’s beautifully produced. It features an impressive array of guest vocalists and collaborators, many of the tracks are nice. But nice is the problem. I want extremes from Massive Attack- extreme emotion, extreme anxiety, extreme fear, extreme hope, extreme innovation. But Heligoland is just extremely nice.

Don’t get me wrong, this is by no means a bad album. It’s just neither as exciting a rebirth (Portishead’s ‘13’) or as relevant a reinterpretation of the trip-hop blueprint (King Midas Sound) as it should be.