ALBUM REVIEW: The Prodigy, Invaders Must Die

Five years on from the underwhelming 2004 album ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned' the Essex trio are back with their fifth studio album ‘Invaders Must Die’, which sees the band make a welcome return to their earlier sound and what they do best: hard, aggressive dance.

The album starts with the onslaught of dark heavy granite-like beats and grinding guitar riffs of its title track followed by the thundering aggression of lead single, Oman.

Harking back to Out of Space is the heavy track, Thunder which features a sample of an earthy ragga vocal, while Colours is pure brutal punk with rock heavy riffs.

It’s only when you get to the middle section that this album definitely comes into its own with tracks like the fantastic ‘Take Me to the Hospital’ which sees the band return to their rave roots with high-pitched ear-piercing vocal stabs.

Throughout this album there are brief visits back to different stages of the bands career from the aggressive bassline and old skool sounds of ‘Warrior Dance’ to the crunching chords and manic drumming head banger that is ‘Run With The Wolves’.

There are a few let downs on the album such as the totally lacklustre ‘Piranha’, the nasty tinny sounds of ‘Colours’ and the misplaced closing track ‘Stand Up’.

Although this album fails to sustain its quality throughout it seems to me that the Essex trio are back on form.

Track listing:

1. Invaders Must Die
2. Omen
3. Thunder
4. Colours
5. Take Me to the Hospital
6. Warrior's Dance
7. Run with the Wolves
8. Omen Reprise
9. World's On Fire
10. Piranha
11. Stand Up