Invaders Must Die

Five years on from their last album, Keith Flint and Maxim Reality have joined Howlett in the studio to make what many will consider a last attempt at proving their relevance. Invaders Must Die then is the musical equivalent of a day spent on a bouncy castle: old-fashioned and loud, but damned good fun.

During the 1990s The Prodigy sat slightly above Underworld and The Chemical Brothers as rulers of British dance music.Yet by 2004's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned the Braintree, Essex mob had lost their way. That unremarkable album was made solely by leader Liam Howlett and largely met by indifference.

It would have been pointless trying to channel all the disparate progression electronic music has made in the last five years, so our trio have barely bothered.

What they have done is created a stonking batch of bangers that'll get fans and new converts leaping around as they listen.

The blatant, stirring calls for rebellion and anti-authority rants are still here. Check Piranha's ''They pull you under if they take a hold'', or Omen's ''The writing's on the wall/it won't go away''. Have they tried a board rubber?

Old-rave trademarks are here in spades, too. Warriors Dance, which sweeps in on a seductive snake chamer's riff, has a sped-up female vocal so old-skool it's like being pummelled in the face with a glowstick, while World's On Fire is so early 90s it wears a shellsuit.

Another highlight is Run With The Wolves: a track built around a Dave Grohl drum part. It epitomises torn metal and bright orange sparks and sounds like the soundtrack to a particularly vicious bare-knuckle robot boxing match.

Fans of Australian drum 'n' bass crew, Pendulum, will recognise familiar beats and motifs, but that's because their beloved antipodeans stole them from the Prodge in the first place.

If you want to hear where clubbing is heading, the likes of Diplo and Kid Cudi are worth checking. But for a satisfying lesson in bringing the noise taught by grandmasters, return to these twisted firestarters.