UK heavy weights The Prodigy, have released their much anticipated sixth studio album, The Day Is My Enemy, following consistent bouts of touring that has left fans waiting for six years for a follow-up to their previous effort, Invaders Must Die, which received a mixed but mostly positive reception. Prodigy have returned on record with a strong but understandable chip on their shoulder, examining and re-evaluating their stance on today’s dance music scene, disapproving of some its current aspects.
Claiming superstar DJs and electronic artists have sold out by recording mainstream pop, member Liam Howlett explained in a recent interview with the UK’s Daily Record, “They just go for the safe option because they’re just looking at the money”, adding, “They’re not challenging themselves or the music scene. They’re not making interesting music and they’re not doing anything creative.”
Dominating the music charts’ of the ’90s, with 25 million record sales worldwide highlighted by their best known hits such as Firestarter, Breathe and Smack My Bitch Up, The Prodigy seems to be looking to give today’s EDM culture a wake-up call, with their latest music testing the considered norms of the genre. Providing an edgier sound is something that, according to Howlett, not enough of today’s purveyors are willing to risk doing, in fear of losing their commercial status. He goes on to explain, “Electronic music has become pop music and people have got used to hearing this type of music that way”.
The album was again mostly written and created by Howlett, whose night-owl habits throughout the making of the album gives its title a literal meaning. It begins with strong, heavy drumming creating an instantly viscous and violent sound to get the listener hooked from the very beginning. It proves a previous statement of Howlett’s correct when he stated that the album’s content would be the, “most violent sounding record we have made,” needing to look no further then the single, Nasty, for such evidence. Throughout the album the listener is constantly hit with powerful bursts of electro beats pieced together nicely with bombastic drumming, heavy guitars and energetic punk-style vocals heard throughout tracks such as Wall Of Death and Rok-Weiler.
The Day Is My Enemy will be sure to excite and satisfy their loyal fans of the ’90s, as The Prodigy continue their mission to re-establish dance music’s forgotten roots.
BEN DILLON
