Search - The Prodigy :: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Somewhat engaging but overall rather clunky...

Andrew Ellington | I'm kind of everywhere | 07/02/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a huge fan of Prodigy. I just love that whole techno rave industrial vibe, and while I'm no aficionado, I must say that I soak it up willingly. That said, this offering left me rather cold. It seems somewhat lazy at times, a little uneven, awkward even and even when it hits it lacks the consistency of some of their precious efforts. They layer a few tracks with originality (even if the songs don't fully follow through with their initial punch) but overall the album comes off feeling incomplete.



The album opens with the energetic `Spitfire', a song that packs a wallop musically (that beat is instantly infectious) but never really goes anywhere. That is an issue I have with the bulk of this album. It packs an initial punch but then fades into redundancy and wasted potential. `Medusas Path' is another one. Musically, it is one of my favorite beats on the album, but the three-minute time span almost feels doubled by the time it is over. It just doesn't go anywhere. In a rave setting, this would be ideal, but listening to this over your stereo it comes off lacking. `Phoenix' is slightly better (thanks to the vocals, which are distinct of not a tad underwhelming in retrospect) but it lacks a memorable factor I was craving. `Memphis Beat' has some interesting layers of musicality woven into it, I just wish they had pushed it a little further.





`Get Up Get Off' benefits from liquid fire vocals by Twista, but it comes off feeling very dated.



I kind of found the whole `Thriller' rip off feel of `The Way It' to be a tad overly cheesy and unsuccessful. They should have really `owned' it if they were going to go this route. Instead it feels a tad too timid and unexpressive. `Wake Up Call' is just obnoxious with no real pay off. It's messy. `Action Radar' is also messy. I found the muffled scream nature of the vocals to be nothing more than annoying.



The rock influence that permeates the album seems overwhelmingly amateurish in my eyes.



But there are some highlights here.



`Girls' is fun, exciting and very different from the rest of the album. I like the playfulness of the beat, but it still has a serious edge. It's funny, because this beat is more engaged and even `heavier' than some of the more rock affluent tracks. The female vocals suit the beats extracted by the duo. I also rather love `Hot Ride'. The salacious vocals provided by Juliette Lewis help capitalize on the aggressive nature of the beats. I only with that the remainder of the album was as focused and attentive as this track. `You'll Be Under My Wheels' understands that a redundant beat has to have variance to make it interesting, and it nails that by layering the beat with nice little tricks that keep it interesting, even in the solitude of your car.



Overall the album is a miss. A handful of interesting tracks make this slightly better than a wasted effort, but in the end this is far less than I was hoping for."