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THE REVIEW
The Hundredth Window.
3D (Robert del Naja) is left alone, the dark soul (Mushroom and Daddy G) has been lost along the way. What remains is the white, cold, and electronic soul.
All the songs start slow, dreamy, lost in space, with long intros laid on delicate keyboard textures. "Future Proof" begins with some bleeps, a real guitar arpeggio kicks in, and then 3D sings, no hint of rap, he actually sings, with a glacial voice lost in effects, merged into the music which is freeform, minimal, with structures repeated ad libitum. Sometimes there’s a real bass played almost ambient-like, strings caressed. A spectral nightmare. The old Massive can only be recognized in some drum machine programming.
The main female guest this time is Sinead O’Connor, beautiful in “Special Cases”, but in “Prayer For England” and “What Your Soul Sings” she makes one long for Liz Frazer and Tracey Thorn, her voice uses vibrato too extensively, remains a foreign body, sometimes irritating, far from Frazer's majesty and Thorn's weary nonchalance.
The old Horace Andy sings in “Name Taken” and it's only here that the old Massive are immediately recognizable, Horace Andy's voice is inimitable. A unique continuity with the past.
“Small Time Shot Away” is our favorite and “Antistar” closes the album, made of emptiness, minimal, sparse, delicate loops that repeat in the infinite of its 20-minute duration, it is hard to find something to cling to, you shouldn't resist but lose yourself inside, where the strings of “Unfinished Sympathy" have transformed into oriental melodies, and here it is worth remembering the fierce opposition of 3D, manifested on the band’s website, to the upcoming war in Iraq: fusion of cultures rather than clash.
An odd work that will baffle longtime fans, those more into trip hop and dub, but a beautiful and experimental work. Difficult.
This is the new path taken by Massive Attack.
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Summary by Bot
100th Window marks a bold and minimalist turn for Massive Attack, with 3D alone crafting a cold, electronic soundscape. The album features haunting vocals from Sinead O’Connor and Horace Andy and explores ambient and spectral textures. Though challenging for longtime trip hop fans, its experimental style offers a fresh, captivating experience. The album also reflects 3D’s cultural fusion ideals against the backdrop of global events.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Massive Attack
Bristol-based music group formed in 1988, widely credited as pioneers of trip-hop; original core members include Robert '3D' Del Naja, Grant 'Daddy G' Marshall and Andrew 'Mushroom' Vowles.33 Reviews
Other reviews
By The Punisher
This album has not met expectations by quite a bit.
Nothing that gives me goosebumps, nothing that makes me jump up in my seat.
By theJOKE
Massive Attack as the true essence of urban and metropolitan reality of the new millennium.
"Small Time Shot Away" and "Butterfly Caught" slowly reopen the wounds of war, intertwining love and death with enigmatic coldness.
By The_dull_flame
The first seconds of 'Future Proof' are enough to be fascinated by it.
'Butterfly Caught' is a devastating electronic dark masterpiece that sends shivers down your spine.
