It may have been five long years of waiting, but it doesn’t seem like any time has really passed at all since the release of their last album Invaders Must Die. Now we can all finally rejoice in the fact that the world’s finest electronic punks The Prodigy have returned in scathing form with a brand new album, The Day Is My Enemy.
Over the course of the past couple of years, The Prodigy have performed demo-stage versions of a handful of these tracks during live performances at their Brixton Warriors residency, Przystanek Festival in Poland, Rock AM Ring, and Download Festival. So, in terms of whetting appetites, they have been feeding their loyal and rabid fan base to the point where they have really needed something they could sink their teeth in to. This was all made the more apparent earlier this year with the subsequent video release of the album’s lead single, ‘Nasty’.
Since this release, there has been a succession of single releases including ‘The Day Is My Enemy’, ‘Wild Frontier’, and ‘Wall Of Death’. So with all of this audible promise that we have been fed already, is the album actually any good?
Let it be known that if ever there is a group you can truly rely and depend upon with unutterable reverence, that group consists of Sirs Howlett, Flint, and Maxim. The Prodigy.
The Day Is My Enemy is a solid 14 tracks (15 if you include the surprisingly cool cover of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster‘s ‘Rise Of The Eagle‘) of varying proportions that combines the energies and presences of every one of their previous album releases, yet somehow still manages to sound contemporary and relevant to today’s music culture – especially with its underlying themes of social-political awareness, which is made more obvious in their latest music videos.
The production on The Day Is My Enemy is very much alike their 1997 release The Fat Of The Land (on which producer Neil McLennan was an engineer), with its diverse range of production skills and techniques that really anchors the raw energy that is present. It also enhances the overall power of every song here too – particularly with album highlights ‘Destroy’ (the closest we will get to Experience-era Prodigy) , the anarchic ‘Wild Frontier‘, and the white-hot jungle influenced ‘Roadblox‘ – which is sure to be a live set staple for sure.
Now while the album has many great moments and collaborative highlights – including the Sleaford Mods on ‘Ibiza‘, and the Flux Pavillion produced ‘Rhythm Bomb‘, The Day Is My Enemy seems to be missing a little something. This is not a bad album by any means, but it seems to be missing the immediacy and the innovative nature that Music For The Jilted Generation, and The Fat Of The Land captured. Maybe it is a generational thing, or maybe it is a magic ingredient that was only but captured within the moment.
Another criticism that can be noted is that whilst it is utterly great that they have captured elements of each one of their previous albums, there are some weaker songs on here like ‘Medicine‘ and ‘Invisible Sun‘, which sound like they could have been tracks that got left off of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. This is in no way to say they are bad tracks, but there are moments on here which just slow the pace of the album down a little bit.
It goes without saying that The Day Is My Enemy is going to be one of the biggest selling albums of 2015, and is more than an extremely wonderful return to form for The Prodigy. Whilst this album is certainly a great album, it is not exactly magnificent, but it is a definite grower. However, we are sure these are songs that will project themselves to their true potential in the live setting rather than on record. It could be down to the few fillers on here, it could be to do with the fact that they are not exactly reinventing the wheel… but what is apparent is that this is a side of The Prodigy that has not been this pissed off for a long, long time.
What we have here is a more determined group. One of united vision and views, and with a lot more venom and anti-authoritarian stance than most groups that are around today. This is by far their most ‘punk’ album they have released since the 90s, but it is also a contemporary testament to their musical progression to not only keep up with the times and modern music culture, but to also sound as relevant as they always have. The Day Is My Enemy should be and will be in your record collection sooner rather than later.
Welcome back gentlemen, your throne awaits you once more!
