Eighteen years after “Charly”, the Prodigy find their stock
at its highest for a decade, thanks in part to influential admirers such as Justice and Pendulum. Unlike last album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, which included songs about girls and cars, Liam Howlett keeps things simple on Invaders Must Die, rarely straying from that
old-school hardcore template he minted in 1994. Grunged up with jagged riffs and live drums (Dave Grohl appears on “Run With The Wolves”), the chintzy breaks of “Omen” and “Thunder” are primed for the live circuit.
Keith Flint and Maxim are similarly one-track-minded, constantly exhorting listeners to strap on their raving gear: “Bring your colours to the floor!”, runs the chorus of “Colours”. Parping closer “Stand Up” aims for the frazzled euphoria of Primal Scream’s “Loaded”, but evokes, more pertinently, a bad-tempered ketamine trip. In the ugliest way possible Invaders Must Die shows that the Prodigy have still got it.
PIERS MARTIN
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