The Prodigy: "Omen"

The noughties haven’t quite been the kindest decade to the Prodigy. After the chart-topping success of The Fat of the Land (1997), perhaps the pinnacle of America’s short-lived obsession with electronic music, jacked-up composer Liam Howlett and his energetic dancers/singers/hype-guys got stuck for seven years trying to figure out what came next. In the end, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004) embraced electroclash about two years too late; it had some solid beats, but it sorely lacked MC Maxim Reality and Keith Flint.

“Omen” is the Prodigy coming back at ya, once again with Maxim and Flint on vocals. Essentially, if you dug “Poison” and “Firestarter,” this is an excellent reminder that this kind of dumb-fun punky raver party is the Prodigy’s domain. It’s pretty thrilling to hear a chime rush that sounds straight out of “Music Reach 1/2/3/4,” one of the earlier hits from the era where this group was Liam Howlett’s ravesploitation canvass. As for those hoover stabs, that’s just thick icing. It’s always been clear that Howlett knows his hooks—even the confusing Always Outnumbered had “Girls” and the “Thriller”-biting “That’s The Way It Is” to keep hardcore fans sated—but, from the sound of “Omen,” Invaders Must Die is more of a return to form. Or, uh, a return to 1996 at least.