Massive Attack - Mezzanine
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CD Details
Artist: Massive AttackEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Import
Published: 1998
CD Release Date: 1998-05-12
Music Label: Virgin Records Us
Product features:
- Massive Attack - Mezzanine Brazil Import
- Angel
- Risingson
- Teardrop
- Inertia Creeps
- Exchange
- Dissolved Girl
- Man Next Door
- Black Milk
- Mezzanine
- Group Four
- (Exchange)
Music reviews of Mezzanine
Music Review: A Dark Ocean Of Ambient Beauty
Rating: 5 Stars
There are some albums that, even if you don't own them, you are familiar with because they have built up a reputation over the years. Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" is one such album; I think from the time of this album's release in 1998, I have always known - just from looking at the cover - just who it was by. I never really had any desire to buy it, either, but five months ago I did. I'm not going to hail this album as one of my all-time favourites, because I don't think it is, but it certainly is an amazing album. If you can appreciate truly dark music (we're talking darker than dark) then this album is for you, most definitely.
I suppose this is the kind of album you could lay on your bed to in the pitch dark, with your eyes closed, and just unfolding, letting the sound seep into your brain. The beats are deep and penetrating, the bass is pounding, reverberating like sound waves through water; at once near, then a million miles away. The sounds echo around you before drawing closer, disappearing, and then expanding all the time, closing in on themselves and crumpling under their own lead-heaviness. Imagine this album in Surround Sound. I bet it's incredible...
The album opens with the moody "Angel." This haunting and epic ballad begins with a distant bass which draws closer and louder, before the vocals of a mysterious female draw you in. "You...are my angel," she whispers, before telling us she loves us, then letting the really magic begin. From that small particle of sound that opened the song grows a monster of a song, powered by a chugging beat that is relentless until the song's outro. "Risington" is an incredible piece of work, and was the first song to be debuted from the album in 1997. This song opens like echoes through water leading to the sooty vocals of a deep male voice. The chorus is incredible, and the dizzy but tranquil serenity before it is perfectly chilled. Clicks and bleeps reverberate in the background like a helicopter growing closer. The beat is twisted and primal at time, mixing perfectly with the lyrics, "Toy-like people make me boy-like." Unquestionably the greatest song on the album follows, in the form of the absolute classic "Teardrop." This is definitely one of my favourites songs of all time, because I am just in awe at its construction. The way the haunting vocals of Liz Fraser weave a sparkling web around the pounding heartbeat of a bass is awe-inspiring. Such a simple yet complex song. The first minute is incredible, as we gradually hear the bass getting louder before those sunlit vocals shine light into the immense darkness created by the piano. As the voice of that Goddess teeters on the edge around the fourth minute, before tumbling into the darkness, you'll experience something profoundly moving. Trust me.
"Inertia Creeps" is a song that has an unnerving quality to it and has the ability to make me rather paranoid. I'm not sure why, but I just get a strange chill whenever I hear this! The bass is deep and pounding, as the beat bounces off the walls of your headphones and crashes into your brain. "Exchange" is probably the nearest you'll get to relative happiness on this album. The beat is rather soothing and relaxing, and there's a feeling of serenity about the whole four minutes of this instrumental. "Dissolved Girl" is one of my favourite songs from the album. It's also one of the catchiest songs on the album. It opens with a bass that will make your head spin due to the dizzy, repetitive nature of it. The vocals by the mysterious female work amazingly, bringing out a rather vulnerable and confused woman amongst the smothering darkness. "Man Next Door" opens brilliantly with a beat that sounds distant, with further-distant beats bouncing off from it. This is also one of my favourite songs from the album, because the story that is created is rather spooky, but with a humorous tone. The vocals seem a little unusual with a slight giggle in them, as the man sings of a strange men next door and of the things he gets up to.
"Black Milk" has a distant intro before a static buzz filters in. This song sounds like the soundtrack to an alternative club in the middle of space, floating around. You could imagine this song being in an advert, as a man stares at a woman in a club, no speaking from anyone, only body language. The song has that edge to intimidate you, and I think you can't help but visualise a scenario if you close your eyes. The album's title track, "Mezzanine," has a deep and pulsating throb that courses through the blood stream of this euphoric song. The darkness of this album is at its peak here, with whispered vocals and chattering beats clicking on and off in the background. The longest song on the album is "Group Four," at over 8 minutes in length. This is a really great song that creeps into your ears with the stark contrast between whispered male vocals and angelic, sparse female vocals. The man mumbles effectively as the woman expresses herself so beautifully with an almost operatic vocal style. The album closes with "(Exchange)" which is a great outro track for this album. The job of this song, in my opinion, is to gently bring you back down to earth after the amazing high that the previous ten songs put you on. Something is needed to ground you safely, and this song is the perfect antidote. A beautiful end to an incredibly dark masterpiece.
OVERALL GRADE: 10/10
This is by far the darkest album I own. This is not particularly true in lyrical content, but it is most definitely true in the case of the music you actually hear. Because this album is so profound, it has managed to almost create a genre for itself; think of visually dark music and this album will come out top nearly every time, I can guarantee it. The blend of trip-hop, electronica and dance is rather incredible, and something I am accustomed to being such a huge Björk and Radiohead fan. Granted, this album isn't for everyone, and it took me these five months to truly appreciate everything on offer, but once you get into it you won't be able to stop listening. The darkness on this album is the temptation in your soul, and you will give in every time; you're putty in this album's hands.
Description of Mezzanine
CD > POPULAR MUSIC > ROCKThe third full-length release from Massive Attack is a taste of the future of pop music--a future where precisely engineered events can be seamlessly partnered with the subtle complexities of a human voice. Since their first album, Blue Lines, they've been making similar magic happen with any one of several guest vocalists, but nothing like the way it happens on Mezzanine. This time they take the union further, moving it into a darker space in which the individual elements become less discernable. Guest vocalists are Sara Jay, Horace Andy (who also appeared on their debut), and Elizabeth Fraser (of Cocteau Twins), whose amazingly articulate and distinctive voice works so very well with the music of Massive Attack. --Paul Clark
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