A sense of the sinister seeps, in one way or another, into each one of MezzanineвЂ™s eleven offerings, from the dubby grunge of вЂRisingsonвЂ™ to the ominous edge of вЂInertia CreepsвЂ™-a track critic John Bush suggests вЂњcould well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen.вЂќ вЂMan Next DoorвЂ™ might seem to signify Horace AndyвЂ™s safe return to home soil, reconnecting with his reggae roots, but his mesmeric rendition of The ParagonsвЂ™ classic is dark-edged, even a little ominous. вЂњYou, are my angel,вЂќ he chants, вЂњcome from way above, to bring me love.вЂќ Spectacularly cinematic-scoring the searing incendio of Snatch вЂ™s burning caravan scene among countless others-вЂAngelвЂ™ is markedly MezzanineвЂ™ s heaviest track, driven by that epic, unrelenting guitar crescendo that feels instantly monumental.ДЄnd darkness endures as the album continues. Punctuated by jagged beats and the titillating reverb of percussion, AndyвЂ™s louring lyricism-those eight lines that seem almost inconsequential when read-is haunting when heard. The album opens with вЂAngelвЂ™ and a distorted, brooding bassline that gives way to Horace AndyвЂ™s vibrating vocals. Massive Attack in Vox Magazine, 1998 (scan) With trippy dub beats layered under moody vocals and driving, melancholic melodies, Mezzanine is an album more magnificently dark than anything Massive Attack had done before. Coming out of a time when tensions among the group were high, it not only marked the end of an era for the band-who were torn apart by MushroomвЂ™s departure and Daddy GвЂ™s so-called вЂsabbaticalвЂ™-but it also pushed the limits of the bandвЂ™s already saturnine sound.

Mezzanine came six years later, and though it may have been Massive AttackвЂ™s third album, it was the bandвЂ™s climax in more ways than one. вЂњWhat we were trying to do was create dance music for the head, rather than the feet,вЂќ Daddy G told The Observer, and thatвЂ™s exactly what they did. Their explosive debut Blue Lines, released a year later, took cues (as well as literal samples) from rock, soul, hip hop, reggae and dub to create dynamic electronica that continues to resist categoric definition. Experimenting with sample-heavy melodies and moody sprechgesang -vocal chants that oscillate between singing and spoken word-the band cultivated their genre-defining sound for 12 years before eventually being taken under the wing of Neneh Cherry in 1990, and signed to what later became Virgin Records.

Born out of BristolвЂ™s burgeoning music scene in the late вЂ80s, the three-man band comprised graffiti artist-turned-rapper Robert Del Naja (known on-stage as 3D) and DJs Grantley Marshall (aka Daddy G) and Andrew Vowles (aka Mushroom). вЂњBy doing it slowly and anonymously, we can actually enjoy it,вЂќ the trio told Q Magazine back in 1991.

A cult band never caught up in the cult of celebrity, Massive Attack enjoy a largely faceless level of fame, pre-social media, nestled within their niche, celebrated for the tenacity, integrity and ingenuity they poured into their distinctive sound. If you donвЂ™t know the story of Massive Attack, youвЂ™re not the only one. Massive Attack in The Face, 1994, by Jean Baptiste Mondino But Mezzanine wasnвЂ™t monumental only for me, it was an epic explosion of trip hop electronica that cemented Massive AttackвЂ™s position among the masters. Early in my teenage years it resurfaced, nostalgic, but also new-and it acted as my gateway into electronic music. My affinity for this album doesnвЂ™t stem from our shared birth date, but itвЂ™s prolificacy in my existence-the soundtrack to long car journeys, the contents of my DadвЂ™s iPod Classic, which would click as I traced the circle of its dial and scrolled through the albumвЂ™s disquieting track titles-вЂ Dissolved GirlвЂ™, вЂ Inertia CreepsвЂ™. Today, Massive AttackвЂ™s Mezzanine turns 21-the same day I, less remarkably, turn 25.

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