Gigslutz

ALBUM: The Prodigy ‘The Day Is My Enemy’

• 26th March 2015
• Keir Waller

We knew this was going to be big, didn’t we? The Prodigy are a band that are happy to take their time and keep plugging at an album until the sound is not only uniquely theirs, but something that can define a genre. While they can’t take credit for the entire sound, their 2009 album, Invaders Must Die, can be seen to define modern EDM, along with Pendulum’s Immersion. While you wouldn’t necessarily say The Day Is My Enemy is going to be a genre defining album, it’s definitely an assault on the senses, with a majority of tracks easily on par with anything from their last album.

As we begin, we are greeted with the thunderous marching beat of the eponymously titled single. The listener isn’t given a moment’s pause before being bombarded with the powerful bouncing beats, not to dissimilar from Nero. Gentle female vocals provide an interesting relief from the usually psychedelic sounds of Keith Flint, but don’t worry, he’s in pretty much everything else on this album.

The majority of Prodigy fans will have already heard ‘Nasty’ and ‘Wild Frontier in the past few months, so I need not remind with you of the two explosive tracks, both of which are certain to make great live tracks and will build a colossal fan base over time as so many Prodigy hits have before. There are hints of ‘Omen’ throughout the album and that eerie bell is back too, adding an almost sinister horror effect.

It’s clear quite early on that The Day Is My Enemy is not going to be an album full of filler, with the majority of the tracks worthy of being released in their own rights. Track no. 3, ‘Rebel Radio’, is just the same, with it’s very much “more of the same” from the Essex boys, with a rapid and ferocious beat, accompanied by Flint’s punk style vocals.

With punk in mind, the next track, ‘Ibiza’, features Nottingham based group Sleaford Mods. Quite appropriately for the title, the lead vocals sound like the result of Eyeball Paul from Kevin & Perry Go Large rapping about drugs and clublife. With a beat close to ‘Piranha’ from their latest album, the power and fast tempo of the track is going to give DJs on the club circuit a lot of fun.

The following track, ‘Destroy’, is a slight regression for The Prodigy, sounding like it could have been from the The Fat of The Landalbum, as if ‘Omen’ and ‘Smack My Bitch’ had an angry, drug infused baby. Possibly the weakest track on the album, which isn’t really saying much due to its quality.

From this point, the album does briefly get more experimental and whilst not trying something completely new, The Prodigy do move more away from their now trademark D’n’B sound. ‘Rok-Weller’ reflects this well, by adding a far more rocky feel, whilst still keeping wholly electronic. ‘Beyond the Deathray’ goes in the opposing direction and is a slow trancey hit, something you would more associate with a build “Intro” track. In this instance, you feel it’s just something to give the raversa minute of respite. Later on the album, ‘Invisible Sun’ provides this same service, calming the audience down before the final track on the album. Flux Pavillion is the next collaborator to feature, who names The Prodigy as one of his musical idols. ‘Rhythm Bomb’ has evident traces of Flux’s work, with large parts of the tracks accompanied by heavy bouncing blows that the DJ is renowned for.

But enough of that experimenting, The Prodigy bring us back to earth with ‘Roadblox’ and ‘Get Your Fight On’, which are yet more unrelenting hits from an album that never really peters out in terms of energy and aggression. An interesting addition to ‘Medicine’ can heard in the Arabic style instruments to accompany to regular ravey beats. A strange mix yes, yet somehow works because, well, The Prodigy.

As the album draws to a close, the listener must first go through the ‘Wall Of Death’. As you can imagine, it’s almost a metal track with its speed and ferocity. You might not fancy being in the mosh pit for this one, it has broken jaw written all over it. Whilst this track does differ to the others, it would be interesting if The Prodigy went in this direction more often, as very few bands can combine rock and electronic music. (Although that might just be because some of us are still in mourning for Nu Metal.)

Overall, this album is The Prodigy at their best, giving the listener plenty more of the same style of music that made Invaders Must Die so popular. This being said, the Essex boys weren’t afraid to experiment. The addition of Flux Pavilion and Sleaford Mods were genius collaboration and only served to make the album better.  In short, The Day Is My Enemy is clever, angry and fast. But let’s be honest, it’s The Prodigy, what the hell did you expect?

The Day Is My Enemy is released on 30th March via Take Me To The Hospital Ltd.

4/5

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• Review
• The Day Is My Enemy

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