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`Mezzanine’ is the third and finest album from the most important British group of the 90′s, Massive Attack. Their debut, `Blue Lines’, virtually redefined UK soul music and invented the much-imitated genre of Trip Hop. If it’s follow up, 1994′s slick `Protection’ was somewhat disappointing, then `Mezzanine’ recaptures the spark of creativity and genre fusion that first thrust them onto the world stage.

`Mezzanine’ is Trip Hop’s logical conclusion, and this new sound is harder and more confrontational than before. It’s closest relative in the music world is The Prodigy’s `The Fat of the Land’, although whereas that album fused heavy punk with dance music, `Mezzanine’ fuses Radiohead-esque prog Rock with hip-hop. Opener `Angel’ is a brooding, moody track, illuminated only by Horace Andy’s androgynous crooning. It is a fine introduction to this schizophrenic, guitar heavy new sound, as Led Zeppelin-esque guitars come crashing down in the climax. `Risingson’ was the track Massive Attack chose to release in September 1997 to preview the new album. Built around a looping bass line over which 3d and Daddy G rap, the track is vaguely psychedelic, what with 3d’s talk of `clicking shines on foreheads’ and samples of The Velvet Underground. Massive Attack are actually more similar to Reed’s crew than you may think; both are (or were) fiercely experimental, yet never take fore granted the ability to construct a decent song.

The next track, `Teardrop’ is many people’s favourite track (myself included). A sublime and simple song built around a stuttering drum beat and harpsichord riff, it also introduces us to Liz Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins) and her soothing, impossibly high vocals. The accompanying video to the track was that of a baby in the womb, and the song does have the effect of rendering the listener to an embryonic state. The addition of sombre piano chords and subtle overdubs creates a stark, mesmerising and beautiful track, proof (if any were needed) that `Unfinished Sympathy’ was not a one off. After cradling us with `Teardrop’, we are severely awoken by `Inertia Creeps, an Eastern tinged rap track that uses its electric guitars to full effect. It also helps one understand why The Clash were thanked in the sleeve notes.

`Exchange’ is probably the albums weakest moment, an instrumental that actually has little to do with Massive Attack, and seems too retro and backward looking in the midst of these thrilling new soundscapes. `Dissolved Girl’ is much better, featuring Sara Jay who whispers and purrs where others might full-bloodedly sing. It is also the albums `chestburster’ moment, as no sooner have we gotten used to the relatively sparse and soulful composition, a thunderous guitar with its amp on max invades the track, mimicking the previously discrete bass line. The fact that it was featured on `The Matrix’ should have been a clue to this; other artists on it were Rage Against The Machine and Marilyn Manson. `Man Next Door’ is initially reminiscent of `Exchange’ and that track’s shortcomings, in that it again is not a Massive Attack song and is similarly retro. But, in the context of the album, it works fine, what with its themes of suburban paranoia, Horace Andy’s almost rude pronunciation of `fight’ and the fact that it’s very melodicism is welcome after the nuclear bomb of sound that was `Dissolved Girl’. `Black Milk’ is the album’s most danceable track, a hip-hoppy song that utilises Fraser’s lolloping vocals and fuses it with a deep grooving bass line and synths to provide the album with the closest thing it has to bombast. `Mezzanine’ and `Group Four’ are the albums landmark progressive tracks, and should be taken as one epic 14-minute track, as they both share the new found heavily electric sounds that are the album’s trademark. With their dark, vicious intensity, they could certainly teach Korn or Slipknot a thing or two about the fusion of rap and electric guitars. Whereas those groups are just axes, coming down on you in one fell swoop, Massive Attack is a shower of acid rain, permeating the melody constantly. Although this makes the album sound depressing, it is not (moody is the word), and Fraser’s psychedelic interplay with 3d on `Group Four’ is quietly exhilarating. `Group Four’ is progressive rock, and I don’t mean that in the derogatory manner with which it is usually intended. An eight minute epic, it is a perfect climax for the album. Except, in a magnificent coup, the album does not end there, but reprises `Exchange’. As with the previous albums, Horace Andy reappears for the final track, and he sings delicately and soulfully over the vamped up `Exchange’, which has a heavier bass and several elements stripped away. The album ends not on fade out, nor a big epic blow out, but the sound of vinyl scratching. It seems strangely fitting, and I can’t help but feel that this is the only version of…

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Christine Menendez (St. Andreu de Llavaneres, Barcelona Spain) –

  

Mezzanine was fixed, almost permanently in my car for two years. Now, it shares space with Morcheeba and Hooverphonic and Portishead, who also enjoyed semi-permanent status. Thing with Mezzanine is, there are so many levels of sound that every time you listen to it, you hear something new. That in itself is a wonder, but the vocals are simply gorgeous, the beats are hypnotic…bone conductive…and the lyrics are completely incomprehensible. With this album, it’s all in the sound, which just wraps you up and takes you away. Massive Attack is a an eclectic mix of genres: jazz, pop, folk, rap, blues, even classical. They take what they need from each and create their own, unique sound. One of the best things about this album is the unique style of each cut: different vocalists, different styles, totally different sounds, but all absolutely Massive. I could not rate this album higher. I’m not a kid, I’m well past the half-century mark but always searching for really good new music and Mezzanine delivers in spades. The very first song on the album, Angel, has been in five films that I know of, including The Matrix! Why these movie guys never got past the first song is anybody’s guess, but the rest of the album is just as good as the beginning. It just keeps getting better. I know Massive has a new album coming out and I’m almost afraid to hear it; equalling Mezzanine would be an amazing feat, but to best it seems impossible. Mezzanine just may be my favourite album of all time, ever, but be warned: you need a very good sound system to hear it all. There is nothing simple here.

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