Liam Howlett

The Prodigy

Invaders Must Die

Take Me to the Hospital

Rating: 2/5

In the Prodigy's heyday, Liam Howlett was a genuinely innovative sonic sculptor. But 20 years on, it's not enough to twist a few samples around, squeeze out a few squealing siren-synth noises, and pile on the kind of old Big Beat drum grooves that the Chemical Brothers were running into the ground in the mid '90s, let alone apply the kind of interminable 'are we there yet?' filter-sweeps that surely the most addled of ageing ravers must be sick of by now. Howlett's cupboard of inspiration is now so bare he's reduced to recycling the same drum programme he devised for the first Prodigy single, 'Charly', for 'Warriors Dance', plagiarising himself with inevitably diminishing returns. And for all the implied savagery of titles such as 'Run with the Wolves', 'World's on Fire', 'Thunder' and 'Omen', Keith Flint and Maxim's lyrics are hollow and clunking.

Download: 'Piranha'