Album Review: The Prodigy – The Day Is My Enemy
2 min read
There is one word that comes to mind when I think of The Prodigy, and that is ANGRY. For a quarter of a century The Prodigy have been one of the angriest acts in music – just take a look at Smack My Bitch Up or you know, the Rohypnol-loving Baby’s Got A Temper. This time, the band is focussing their anger toward present day dance acts, reigning on the parade of the digital DJ era and spitting in the face of the Calvin Harris’ of the world.
While The Prodigy may have a point in how mainstream and same-same the dance genre has become, I’m not sure they’re particular brand of music is the answer. Title and opening track, The Day Is My Enemy is equal parts eery and fiery, the creepy little voice repeating over and over The day is my enemy / The night is my friend atop a Skrillex style heavy dance track. So far, so good.
Destroy is erratic, Rhythm Bomb is kitschy and Invisible Sun has a half-time, almost Yeezy quality, but there is nothing overly new here. It’s still the same pissed off, vile cursing, chip spitting Prodigy we’ve always known and while that is definitely going to work for some – I mean, there’s a reason they’ve been in the game for so long – if they are going to call out other artist’s for playing it too safe, they should practice what they preach.
The highlights on the record come to us in the form of Beyond The Deathray and Ibiza. The former a digitally melodic effort that borders on about as pretty as The Prodigy gets, while the latter is a quirky, high tempo track perhaps the best example of the bands direction and a bit of a piss take.
The only thing that matches The Prodigy’s anger is their energy, which is still ridiculously impressive. For these veterans to still be delivering some of the most high energy live sets on the dance circuit is no mean feat, and firmly cements their right to an opinion. The anger though. So much anger! The Day Is My Enemy could perhaps have any word substituted in place of “day”, but I do like how all-encompassing their anger is this time.
