Mezzanine [CD, Import, from US]

   3D、ダディーG、マッシュルームからなるブリストルの雄、マッシヴ・アタックの『プロテクション』（1994）以来およそ4年ぶりとなるオリジナル・アルバム。前作までの流れをくみつつも、本作で際だつのは、快楽的とすら言える圧倒的なまでのダークネスと、その中で垣間見せる神々しいまでの美だ。冒頭から、体を震わせる太いベース・ラインの中、おなじみのホレス・アンディの温かい歌声が響く。<3>では、コクトー・ツインズのエリザベス・フレイザーが参加。マッシヴならではのダウン・テンポに乗せてせつなく美しいヴォーカルを披露する。本作では、ハードエッヂなギターサウンドを随所に採り入れているのも特徴。アルバムは、タイトル通り「奈落」をさまよい続け、3Dのラップとフレイザーの歌声がトラックとともに上昇していく<10>でハイライトを迎える。彼らが、ダブやソウル、ヒップ・ホップといった従来の枠組みには収まらない、ネクスト・レベルに突入したことを実感させられる傑作。（山田次郎）

The 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

By the release of 1998's Mezzanine, critics were suddenly of the understanding that Massive Attack were one of the most important bands in the world. Bristol's original trip-hop pioneers had, on previous albums Blue Lines and Protection, fused turntable wizardry to the warmest of soul. With Mezzanine, however, the party had ended; revisiting the murky soundscapes so favoured by former partner and fellow Bristolian Tricky, the comeback single "Rising Son" muttering edgily about "cheap beer filled with crocodile tears", over the deepest bass. Tensions were heightened by the news that the making of Mezzanine was riven by inter-band rifts. The friction, though, seems to have create some gems; "Inertia Creeps" is drenched in menace, and "Teardrop" features the ethereal vocals of Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins--both of these a benchmark not just for the band, but for the trip-hop genre. Bleak, but powerfully beautiful. --Louis Pattison