Massive Attack's Mezzanine (1998) Album Review

Mezzanine is the third studio album released by the Bristol-born Trip-Hop group, Massive Attack, released on 20 April 1998.

Massive Attack has produced more innovative album than any other in their generation when they came out with their debut album and their second album, Blue Lines (1991) and Protection (1995). They took credit as the pioneering force behind the rise of Trip-Hop with their blend of soul vocals, dub bass line, and lush hypnotic, instrumentally driven Hip-hop sound that stamped their mark on British music and shaping and shifting dance music.

Their second album, Protection, sounded under produced, but here in Mezzanine is subtly shaped. Mezzanine is their agressive and darkest album, and apart from selling three-million worldwide, it has became their landmark spinning successfull singles such as “Teardrop”, “Angel” and “Inertia Creeps”. “Teardrop” featuring vocal chores from Cocteau Twin’s Elizabeth Fraser, delivers a gentle and ethreal magic. She also does voice input to two other tracks in the album, “Black Milk” and “Group Four” that calls up blissfull images with the sense of unease tension that wails along effortlessly. Track “Man Next Door” especially remarkable with the vocal input from the reggae singer, Horace Andy. My personal favorite is “Dissolved Girl”, a charming beats and lyrics about a guilty pleasure. All the tracks in the album flows perfectly, as listeners are treated with the atmosphere completely created of its own, equivalent of a dream. With the exception of "(Exchage)"who I found rather mediocre and unfitted for the climax of the album.

Massive Attack’s extraordinary vision continues as the band spotted with a series of pictures in their official Facebook account that hinted Damon Albarn (Blur) and Richard Russell (Head of XL Recordings) are currently working together in the studio.