Portishead

Portishead have returned, but you didn't need to be reminded of that. From the hype surrounding their Coachella appearance and Third, their long-awaited follow-up to Portishead, the pressure has been on the band. Third has certainly been anxiously awaited by fans for a very long time. Thankfully, Portishead don't disappoint. In fact, Third sounds like Beth Gibbons and Co. are simply picking up where they left off. However, Third possesses a strangely transcendent quality that only growth and time away could foster. In other words, it was well worth the wait.

This is Portishead's defining statement and quite possibly their masterpiece. Incorporating the smoky, film noir-inspired keyboards that made them famous, Third brings us back to those hazy days. For a comeback record, "Silence" is the perfect song to begin with. The band have re-emerged from a long "Silence," and they still revel in the darkness. The song sways from a dark piano line to Gibbons' haunting melodies. "Nylon Smile" conjures more seductive imagery through a combination of creepy buildup, calculated, tribal percussion and pure vocal ecstasy. "Machine Gun" possesses the tenuous danger that made Portishead so memorable to begin with, and it continues this hazy journey through the band's emotional trauma. Then again, few artists explore emotional trauma like Portishead does."Hunter" evokes a tangible sense of dread, heightened by the flourishes of binary computer sounds mid-song.

They've built a claustrophobic sonic prison well worth being locked into over the course of Third. Final tracks "Magic Doors" and "Threads" close that tomb, keeping the same passionate croon and captivating instrumentals in tact. This is definitely a worthy successor to the band's classic debut Dummy, and it may in time be seen as the ultimate Portishead album. Portishead are still the future, and their holy trinity has been completed with Third.

—Rick Florino
04.29.08