Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land
(Maverick Records)
3 stars (out of 5 stars)
By Tony Bonyata
Lock up your women and children. The techno-rave band Prodigy have just unleashed their latest installment of menacing acid-noise on the album The Fat Of The Land, and it is sure to offend as many people(with it's brutal lyrics) as it will please others (with it's hardcore industrial soundscapes).
Prodigy began their musical odyssey in the early '90's when keyboardist and band mentor Liam Howlett began playing at all-night dance parties throughout England. These parties, referred to as 'raves', were set up illegally in bizarre places, such as abandoned warehouses and out of the way fields. The party goers would only find out the location through a series of secret messages posted throughout the underground scene. Industrial and ambient music dominated the raves as the kids danced through into the early morning, fueled by dizzying lights and the drug Ecstasy.
Morphing the industrial sounds of the great Chicago-based Wax Trax record label (Front 242, Ministry and RevCo) along with hip-hop and London house-music, The Fat Of The Land cuts as sharp and deep as a steel meat cleaver. While not as apocalyptic as Ministry nor as intelligent as The Chemical Brothers or Moby, Prodigy nonetheless delivers a hazardous, sonic music for todays youth
. On their singles "Breathe" and "Firestarter" singer Keith Flint spits out the lyrics with a snarling, rotten, Sex Pistol-like delivery. Ultramagnetic MC's Kool Keith lends a helping hand with his distinctive rap vocals on the song "Diesel Power", while Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills takes the spotlight as he chants with a canned voice on "Narayan". Hard-edged guitars, bum-rushing tempo changes and punkish vocals dominate "Serial Thrilla" and the cover-song "Fuel My Fire", from the West Coast 'grrrrl' band, L7.
With the popularity of The Fat Of The Land, Prodigy has finally brought the forbidding sounds of the underground dance scene to the top-twenty. Be forewarned.