Album Review: Massive Attack - Blue Lines: 2012 Mix/Master

To many, Massive Attack will always be defined by their 1998 opus Mezzanine. Hugely influential, their 1991 debut album, Blue Lines, has had much of its accomplishment obscured by history. Too many trip hop followers and soundalikes have inevitably taken Massive Attack's initial blueprint on board over the past two decades for it to have the same earth-shattering impact on modern listeners as it did upon release.

Blue Lines: 2012 Mix/Master allows a sense of perspective. A stunning overhaul, Massive Attack have successfully shifted focus away from the album's enduring songs (Safe From Harm, Unfinished Sympathy and Five Man Army still sounding surprisingly modern) and back onto its immaculate sound work – Massive Attack's innovative fusion of sample-heavy hip hop, echoing dub atmospherics and cold club electronica. It's a vastly spacious recording. The Brits have managed to inject remarkable depth and detail into their already-expansive sound fields. Five Man Army is a revelation. A cavernous dub-heavy production, this rework reveals an ocean of detail that even die-hard Attack fans may have missed over the past 20 years – an attentive listener can even hear where they awkwardly cut a sample prematurely.

Typically, remixes and remasters are considered the province of obsessives and audiophiles. Blue Lines: 2012 Mix/Master is deserving of a wider audience. Even those who never saw the appeal of Massive Attack's smoother sounds may be converted. Similar to the way Portishead's Third revealed that band's innovations extending beyond trip hop, Blue Lines reaffirms just how groundbreaking Massive Attack were and remain.