Both 100th Window and Heligoland have been growing on me lately. They’re more lowkey than their predecessors and definitely slow burns. Where earlier albums like Mezzanine crushed the listener with the oppressive power of its heavy bass and toyed with them using its twisted dark soundscapes and distorted guitars, an album like 100th Window is much more gentle. The dark tone is still here, but it’s different. It’s gentle and cold, not demented and sinister. 100th Window rubs its fingers slowly across your mind, whispering gently to you where Mezzanine breathes heavily down your neck. Both have that empty look in their eyes, but one is cold and hopelessly detached while the other is dangerously anxious and claustrophobic.

Just as timelessly contemporary as Mezzanine and at absolute zero inside and out, 100th Window is an album that deserves more respect than it’s received. It’s certainly the most subtle and ambient of Massive Attack’s albums. I think some fans, such as myself, always come in with a bias because we’re secretly hoping for another Mezzanine. I think we should come to terms that Massive Attack, let alone anyone, are unlikely to match the scale or tone of Mezzanine, and we should move on and try accepting newer concepts. After all, Massive Attack sure did.