Massive Attack "Mezzanine" [1998]

A long, wafting trail of Bond movie soundtrack rejects, Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" engages in punishingly slow "trip-hop" that is the aural equivalent of a sleeping pill overdose. Just what you always wanted to hear, right? Buried under an ungodly amount of phaser and echo are a couple small-minded weaklings attempting a sort of "Wizard of Oz" bit, creating a falsely ornate world of smoke and mirrors while foisting a paralyzed-by-apathy Gen X worldview when they're not basking in their own stench of conceitedness. Great for dance clubs planning to serve their patrons poison kool-aid. In fact, you're already drinking the kool-aid if you consider Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" worthy of being considered anything than just another dose of cynical, clinical depression from the late-90s.