Although The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method have continued to evolve beyond their rave-tastic roots, The Prodigy remains stubbornly anachronistic. The trio’s new album, Invaders Must Die, has no shortage of squealing-tires keyboards, hairpin-turn breaks and gang-shout sloganeering—in short, every trick that made the group the big-beat kings of the 1990s.
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“Omen” and the title track unfold with suspense-filled crescendos and rumbling basslines, while B-movie synths and theremin wails create haunted-house paranoia on “Piranha.” The only concessions to progression are the instrumental “Stand Up”—on which horns and marching beats combine to create something MGMT might have cooked up—and Keith Flint’s vocal style, which resembles Dizzee Rascal’s grime hiccupping more than it does gutter-punk snarls.
What’s missing overall is the sense of underlying menace that’s always elevated The Prodigy beyond its faceless warehouse-party peers. Instead of sounding scary, chants of “Your world’s on fire!” and “Invaders must die!” sound more like fodder for jock jams, and make Invaders sound like a collection of boring, nostalgic retreads. The lone exception is the excellent “Run With the Wolves,” a relentless, Ministry-like industrial-metal track with drums contributed by Dave Grohl.
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