Massive Attack

massive attack finally returned in 1998 with 'mezzanine', a record immediately announcing not only that the group was back, but that they'd recorded a set of songs just as singular & revelatory as on their debut, almost a decade back.

augmenting their samples & keyboards with a studio band, the album opens with ‘angel,’ a stark production featuring pointed beats & a distorted bassline that frames the vocal (by group regular horace andy) & a two-minute flame-out with raging guitars. ‘risingson’ is a dense, dark feature for massive attack themselves (on production as well as vocals), with a kitchen sink's worth of dubby effects & reverb. ‘teardrop’ introduces another genius collaboration -- with elizabeth fraser from cocteau twins while ‘inertia creeps’ could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome, with eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars & a wealth of effects.