‘Safe’ is not a word I thought I would ever associate with the people who released Smack My Bitch Up. But that is exactly the word that came to mind as I listened to The Day Is My Enemy, The Prodigy’s first album in six years, and probably the least interesting thing they’ve ever released.
It’s not that The Day Is My Enemy is bad, exactly, although lead single Nasty, with its belted chorus of ‘NASTY, NASTY/TRIPLE X RATED’, crosses the line into self parody. It’s more that it’s dull, derivative, a retread of past glories that offers precious little that’s actually new. The likes of Rok-Weiler and Wall of Death cleave so closely to the rave-metal formula that it’s impossible not to feel a sense of deja vu, an issue worsened by a reliance on recycled beats and sounds. This not only feels like the kind of album The Prodigy might have released twenty years ago, it feels like an album they did release twenty years ago.
There are a couple of highlights – the band are joined on Ibiza by Nottingham punks Sleaford Mods, whose trademark angry ranting proves a natural fit, while the spacey, atmospheric Beyond the Deathray shows what The Prodigy can offer when they allow themselves to take their foot off the pedal.
In general though, the overall feeling is that The Day Is My Enemy is the sound of an increasingly venerable band beginning to coast, and on this basis they may face a battle to stay relevant. The day may not be their enemy, but time certainly is.
3/10
The Mongoose 
Agreed. It sounds tired. Baby’s Got a Temper wouldn’t sound out of place on the album, which sums it up for me. They’ve become a parody of themselves.
Destroy, Beyond the Deathray and Invisible Sun are pretty good. But that’s about it really. Wild Frontier is okay.