It’s been nearly five years since the release of Massive Attack’s seminal third album Mezzanine, and after only one listen to 100th Window, it’s clear that a lot has changed.
For one, without the contributions of Mushroom (who quit the band in 1999) and Daddy G (who is “on hiatus” from the group), the new album is ostensibly the work of founding member 3D (Robert Del Naja) and arranger/producer Neil Davidge.
These personnel changes translate into musical differences, forcing Massive Attack — a group credited with single-handedly creating trip-hop — to move away from the genre they conceived.
Most notably, the band has sacrificed the slower, subdued bass lines of traditional trip-hop — present on Mezzanine and Protection — for a faster downbeat approach.
