Massive Attack -Mezzanine

Sun 11th Mar, 2007 in Music Reviews

After setting the bar so high on their first two releases, *Massive Attack * had a huge task on their hands when it came to album number three. Along with Portishead’s Dummy, the Massive Attack’s first two albums – Blue Lines (1991) and Protection (1994) – defined the sound that became known as trip-hop and put their hometown of Bristol on the map. But when Mezzanine hit shelves in 1998, listeners had an album that not only consolidated their trademark sound but added a whole new dimension.

While tracks on Blue Lines and Protection drew extensively from the band’s rhythm and blues influences and molded those sounds around dance beats, Mezzanine’s sound is defined by the uncharacteristic use of effects-laden guitars, darker themes and brooding, descending basslines.

Opening track Angel sets the agenda as poignantly as Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Andrew Vowles would have wanted: the beat is crisp and minimalist, while the constant bassline never ventures beyond that second note. As the track builds over the simple vocal hook, the up-to-11 guitars shatter any perception that Massive Attack were ever a one-trick pony.

Risingson follows Angel and, while the rhythm section and vocals from Del Naja and Marshall hint a return to the band’s usual sound, the warped guitars and eerie samples pick up where the previous track left off. As the album continues, the deconstruction Dissolved Girl with fuzz and reverb, the tom-heavy beats of Inertia Creeps and the sporadic sounds floating over Group Four’s distinctive bassline all accentuate Massive Attack’s more sinister features and make Mezzanine a more engaging listen than its predecessors.

Despite the noticeable change in style, Mezzanine still sounds like Massive Attack. Every one of the album’s 11 songs revolves around the crystal clear beats and pulsating basslines. Teardrop, the first single from the album, may have hit the charts for former Cocteau Twins member Elizabeth Fraser’s note-perfect vocals but with all that stripped away, the beat is one of the most recognisable of the past decade. Exchange provides a brief intermission between the intensity of Inertia Creeps and Dissolved Girl, while its reprise at the end of the album ensures things end with a gradual wind-down, rather than the drama of the opening minutes.

But while the bare bones of trip-hop come out to play on occasion, these moments serve only to punctuate the redefined sound and link it back to its roots. It’s the dark and dirty side of Massive Attack that comes through on Mezzanine and despite the throwbacks to their early days, everything on this album is the sign of a band that constantly wants to take things above and beyond.