The Prodigy

The Day Is My Enemy

(Take Me To The Hospital)

Six albums in 25 years is not a prodigious amount, and there are those who would argue that the Essex trio reached their creative peak a long time ago with 1997's The Fat Of The Land, when they provided an electro-industrial flipside to Britpop's guitars, their feet in 1980s raves rather than 1960s rock. But subsequent albums Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned (2004) and Invaders Must Die (2009) kept them at the No 1 spot, and I'd be surprised if The Day Is My Enemy doesn't do the same.

Energy levels seem to be restored after the six-year break. The title track blasts out of the blocks with divebombing synths, military rat-a-tat-tat drums, a catchy keyboard interlude and Martina Topley-Bird adding a Cole Porter sample that gives the album its name. Then comes Nasty, a Prodigy single from the Firestarter mould, with Keith Flint confirming his bid to be Johnny Rotten for the dance generation.

But although Ibiza co-opts rap/laptop duo Sleaford Mods to slag off superstar DJ culture and Wild Frontier has Liam Howlett working overtime on keyboards, the album eventually settles into an indistinguishable cycle of thumping beats, abrasive synths and shouty phrases. On record, it's wearing; but it'll doubtlessly explode when The Prodigy properly come into their own in the live arena.

Alan Morrison