Album Review

Underworld – Beautiful Burnout

• 25th Dec 2007

Underworld provided more than an ample share of the crooked, climbing and mystique oozing lounge style soundtrack to one of the indie films of 2006, ‘Breaking And Entering’ starring Jude Law. Only to return a year later with a blistering forage through ambient, chill-out with an odd techno thrust through fifth studio album, ‘Oblivion With Bells’. From this album, the mysterious duo of Rick Smith and Karl Hyde choose to celebrate their epic building side with ‘Beautiful Burnout’. With creeping beat climbs and sinister asides, it is easy to see why this pair has become a soundtrack compiler’s dream.

Distorted vocals that do little more than quivering utterance of the song’s title, provides for brief pauses in this epic, digitally intoned ambient and light electro swerve. A Mark Knight remix, proves the pick of the alternate versions, mainly for its robustness and dance-friendly rises. Crescendos and tempo switches provide more bite and immediate appeal to appease the radio aspect of their listenership. Underworld has shown yet again, their ability produce a fresh and searching tune. They maintain that ability to expand their songs and generally create a bigger impact than many of their contemporaries.