Invaders Must Die

もう誰も近寄れない！説明不要のモンスター・バンド、プロディジーが再び世界に火をつけた！
2004年の前作『オールウェイズ・アウトナンバード，ネバー・アウトガンド』から約5年振りとなる通算5枚目のオリジナル・アルバム。前作がプロディジーの頭脳であるリアム1人で制作されているため、メンバー全員が参加したアルバムとしては、何と97年の名盤『ザ・ファット・オブ・ザ・ランド』以来！「ツアーそしてフェスティヴァルから影響を受けた」と彼ら自身が語るとおり、ライヴ栄えする音源がずらりと並び、重量級のビーツ、リアムの完璧なプロダクション・スキル、歪んだギター、オールド・スクールなシンセ、キースそしてマキシムの最高潮にアグレッシヴなヴォーカルが見事なまでにブレンドされた、まさにプロディジーとしか表現できない最高傑作の誕生！

Mojo - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Reintroducing the bleeps, synth riffs and chipmunk vocals of their early '90s hardcore roots alongside scuzzy rock, these tracks are full of peaks, breakdowns and hard returns..." Spin - "INVADERS MUST DIE is a stirringly workmanlike, if retro, blast of founder/producer Liam Howlett's anthemic breakbeat spazz." Clash - "[I]t's 'Take Me To The Hospital' that opens the floodgates for this fifth studio album's most euphoric highs....The album's middle section continues to impress with the savagely boisterous 'Run With The Wolves'..." Kerrang - "Reality steals the show on 'Thunder' by breathing some muscle-bound melody into the mix, then helps 'World's On Fire' stutter and slam home its point." Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Prodigy's fifth studio album sounds -- instantly, from the jagged synth riff and pounding drum break of the opening title track -- just like The Prodigy should. Only leaner, harder, and even faster than before." Record Collector - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The highlight has to be the hinged 'Take Me To The Hospital,' which marries ecstasy rush-triggering rave in the style of 'Out Of Space' to a vicious industrial 'Firestarter' back line." Blender - 3 stars out of 5 -- "If anyone has the right to reboot the manic keyboard riffs and overheated breakbeats of the era, it's them. Sure, it's nostalgic, but the rave flashbacks punch the right note of crazed jubilation..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.50) - "Reality steals the show on 'Thunder' by breathing some muscle-bound melody into the mix, then helps 'World's On Fire' stutter and slam home its point." Q (Magazine) (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Prodigy's fifth studio album sounds -- instantly, from the jagged synth riff and pounding drum break of the opening title track -- just like The Prodigy should. Only leaner, harder, and even faster than before." Mojo (Publisher) (p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Reintroducing the bleeps, synth riffs and chipmunk vocals of their early '90s hardcore roots alongside scuzzy rock, these tracks are full of peaks, breakdowns and hard returns..." Clash (magazine) (p.96) - "[I]t's 'Take Me To The Hospital' that opens the floodgates for this fifth studio album's most euphoric highs....The album's middle section continues to impress with the savagely boisterous 'Run With The Wolves'..."Record Collector (magazine) (p.102) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The highlight has to be the hinged 'Take Me To The Hospital,' which marries ecstasy rush-triggering rave in the style of 'Out Of Space' to a vicious industrial 'Firestarter' back line."

'Invaders Must Die' is the fifth studio album by British electronic act the Prodigy. As one of the most successful and respected dance groups of recent times, this album sees the return of both Keith Flint and Maxim to the fold for their most exciting album to date. Included are collaborations with Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) and James Rushent (Does It Offend You Yeah).|

Twenty years after England's Summer of Love, rave had made a comeback -- at least in indie circles -- and Liam Howlett's Prodigy, the only original rave group still going (anyone remember Altern-8?), could hardly have done worse than jump aboard. Invaders Must Die is a curious nu-rave record, as though the sound of 1991 (such as their Top Ten hit "Charly") has been filtered through the sound of 1996 (such as their number one, "Firestarter") to emerge as, simply, uptempo dance music with extroverted beats and grimy basslines. If that sounds basically like your average electronica record circa the turn of the millennium (albeit produced by one of its greatest heroes), then you're a long way towards understanding what this nu-rave record from the Prodigy sounds like. Add a few period-appropriate cues -- unfiltered synth or keyboard runs, ring-the-alarm effects, samples of divas or ragga chatters (sped-up and slowed-down, respectively) -- and you get a strange album indeed. The single "Omen" is a good example, while the other two tracks with the most rave signals are "Take Me to the Hospital" and "Warrior's Dance," which both sound like follow-ups to "Charly" or "Out of Space" filtered through the darkside strains of latter-day hardcore techno (aka 4Hero's "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare"). And as usual with the Prodigy -- going back to Music for the Jilted Generation -- there's plenty of polemics and struggle, most of it delivered in sloganeering fashion by Keith Flint and Maxim (who are both back in the fold after being absent from the previous Prodigy record, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned). ~ John Bush

前作ではMCとして出番のなかったキースもマキシムも復帰。よくよく考えてみると、3人が揃ったアルバムは何と97年の〈カニ〉以来!　それでテンションがアガったわけじゃないだろうけど、5年ぶりとなるこの新作にはやたらと熱が込められている。けたたましいサイレンのようなシンセ、重量感と多彩なパターンを持つビート、MC2人の見事なコンビネーションが揃い、彼らの活動を総括したような仕上がり。激アツです!
bounce (C)青木 正之