Heligoland

Alternative Press - 4 stars out of 5 -- "'Psyche' arcs gorgeously from codeine-laced space-pop to retro-tinted tropicalia." Entertainment Weekly - "Haunting vocals by TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval calm the jitters here..." -- Grade: B- Billboard - "Massive Attack's arsenal has expanded and the resulting onslaught is nothing short of brilliant." Paste - "Less a depiction of the surrounding apocalypse, HELIGOLAND is more a reflection of the anxieties within." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's the roll-call of weatherbeaten indie stars who appear on HELIGOLAND that provides a lot of the appeal here....The sound of a group at the very height of their power, flexing their ample muscle..." CMJ - "[There is] enough dark, blossoming beauty in HELIGOLAND's 53 minutes to make it an admirable endeavor by a group that has endured nearly two decades in music." Clash - "Sounding a lot like Martina Topley-Bird, it's actually Hope Sandoval that brings a similarly languid, feminine guile to 'Paradise Circus.'" Spin - "In opener, 'Pray or Rain,' TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe sings of failing systems over a rolling-thunder piano groove."

Massive Attack's 2003 release 100th Window broke a long string of discrete, stylistically distinct recordings by sounding like an inferior copy of the 1998 landmark Mezzanine. But 2010's Heligoland marks a return to departures. Most of the Massive Attack hallmarks are still here: gripping music laden with tension and dread, a production that sounds fathoms deep, and an insular worldview represented by a cast of vocalists both new and old. What's immediately apparent, however, from the opener "Pray for Rain," is the sparseness and understated air on display here. This isn't the Massive Attack that floated the smoothest British house of the early '90s, or the group that created dense, immersive trip-hop during the '90s and early 2000s. Overall, Heligoland lacks the majesty and might of classic Massive Attack. ~ John Bush|

ブリストル低音世界の重鎮が帰ってきた。実質的に3Dのソロだった前作『100th Window』には内省的で不穏な空気な充満していたが、本作ではダディGが復帰して、同時にユニットとしての〈らしさ〉も戻ってきたかな、と。重さをキープしながらも圧迫感を全体に敷き詰めることはなく、選び抜かれた音の配置が絶妙なため、その隙間さえも気持ち良く響いてくるのだ。ゲスト陣の配置も実に効果的で、ベース&キーボードで参加したデーモン・アルバーンやティム・ゴールドワージー（DFA）とのコラボは特に聴きモノ。毎度お馴染みホレス・アンディの声も聴けて一安心だし、ホープ・サンドヴァル（マジー・スター）のヴォーカルもハマってますわ。まさに面目躍如の一撃、というか久々に彼らの音に感動できた!
bounce (C)池田謙司