andygates

The album is tighter and more symphonic, less dancey-hardcore, certainly not as heavy as Hold Your Colour. Weirdly it's not all that bassy for drum 'n' bass - mixed down for a wider audience appeal, perhaps? The lyrical leitmotif (if such a thing matters) is the subversive paranoid future: "They" feature heavily. There are fewer guest vocalists so less jarring difference between tracks, on the flipside it's more samey. Fewer samples too, which is a pity, as I like people who play silly buggers with samples (the Willy Wonka ones from the previous album are still nightmarish). Production is as tight as a gnat's arse - but we expect nothing less.

Ongoing review as I listen (and headbang) at work: Showdown is a 2am fast-driving grin; Wipeout stuff. Different has the great line "Don't mind the cameras: Let them see your black heart" and belongs on an anime rooftop surrounded by cyborg helicopters. Propane Nightmares is a huge rambling thumping epic full of choral pads and with more than a hint of Muse about it. Visions has a nice loopy hook that doesn't go anywhere but does it nicely. Midnight Runner just falls short of being another stonking Wipeout track; it's fine Podrunner fodder. The Other Side gets back to the symphonic sample-heavy stonk we know and love. Mutiny is bouncy and silly (poppy? who cares? happy bum!). 9,000 Miles goes warm and almost ambient with a sentimental hook that will end up on TV - not quite Propaganda but in the same postcode. Granite teases with a Portishead opening bar but gets down to some straight DnB. The Tempest is a lovely club background track - it's one to stalk through a club in a huge black coat to. You know what I mean. It's let down by that mix, though - this needed some really pounding bass to offset the grinding guitar loop. It's there if you mix it up, but c'mon lads, people who buy drum 'n' bass aren't scared of bass.

Overall? It's a grower, but so was Hold Your Colour. It's not as slamming and outrageous, doesn't leave me as breathless. Some of the more aimless tracks will remix up a treat.  Rumours that they've run out of steam are greatly exaggerated, but preview before you buy because the current single is the best thing on the album.