by Alba Lopes Da Silva
2/5
Prodigy, with their new album ‘No Tourists’, have again succeeded in creating powerful, yet somewhat aggressive beats which will not fail to make listeners want to stand up and dance.
From the 1st track, ‘Need Some1’, Prodigy sets the tone for the new record: similar scratchy synth bars playing over and over again, failing to provide a clear beat. Listening to ‘No Tourists’ is an over-the-top, fast-paced experience that might leave the listeners exhausted by the end of the album, as every song feels like it belongs to a chase scene in a highly action-packed movie. Put together, the tracks do not differ from one another - one might even say that most of them sound exactly the same, which transforms the album into one big cacophonic mess. While listening to the album, I felt like I needed a slower song to give the feverish energy a break. Yet, this song never came; ‘No Tourists’ does not slow down once. However, as stand-alone hits, the songs offer interesting and enjoyable aspects. The repetitive, sharp vocals, together with the energetic synth in ‘We Live Forever’, provide an extremely enjoyable dancy electronic track. ‘Timebomb Song’ manages to successfully blend two completely different sound styles with light, sped-up vocals throughout. The album’s final song ‘Give Me a Signal’ is also an excellent track, as it blends EDM with Acid House elements.
Prodigy managed again to capture the essence of the 90’s rave culture which will delight fans of the British band. With their 2009 album ‘Invaders Must Die,’ along with their 2015 ‘The Day is My Enemy’, Prodigy laid out the basis for their latter-day songs. However, put simply, ‘No Tourists’ does not provide any renewal to their punk-electronic style and fails to bring any much-needed originality to the tracks.
