After a seemingly endless period of creative silence since the release of 2010’s Heligoland — which I loved, unlike many — Bristol-based trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack return with the EP Ritual Spirit, one of several planned for this year in anticipation of a full-length. In ways, Ritual Spirit is both a successor and a distant relative of the outfit’s last album: While it still revels in an understated vibe and sparse arrangements, it utilizes more lurching, slithering rhythms and sub-bass swells to match the numerous guest contributions and has less of the soundtrack arc as Heligoland.

Ritual Spirit features a collaborating artist on each track, among whom are Roots Manuva, Young Fathers, and even former member Tricky, who returns on the released single “Take it There.” For all the collaborators present, though, Massive Attack’s ominous, seductive sound remains intact. Opening cut “Dead Editors” utilizes a stuttering synth delay against a jumpy, off-beat hi-hat rhythm while Roots Manuva’s deep, smooth voice glides over an eerie backdrop of sub-bass and swelling synths. It’s certainly not the laid-back, reflective Massive Attack of Heligoland; its uptempo drive is as menacing as it is danceable. The title track, though, is closer in scope to what we’ve become accustomed to from MA in the 21st century: Formed upon a dreary guitar line and a deep bass drone atop stuttering, layered rhythms, it evens recalls parts of the famed Mezzanine, and Azekel’s soft falsetto is an excellent foil to the busy percussive foundation.

“Voodoo in My Blood” is definitely one of the strangest tracks, but the collaboration with Young Fathers comes off better than expected. The vocal rhythms, in line with most modern hip-hop, are twisted up with a voice distortion effect and skirted around by a frantic, intricate groove that borrows velocity from drum’n’bass territory. The buzzing, discordant synths, with an “8-bit” sound, drone behind ethereal vocals and pitch-bending guitars. In some ways — in terms of structuring and progression — it resembles Heligoland’s “Babel,” while “Take it There” rests upon a slithering, lo-fi groove as it builds into a noisy wash of serenity toward the end of its running time.

While it seems anticlimactic that listeners have had to wait six years for a 4-track EP, Ritual Spirit, if any indication of the next full album, should be viewed as an agent of change for the outfit as they again expand the boundaries of the sound they’ve forged.

– Dustin

Ritual Spirit is now available on a special 12” double LP via Melankolic Recordings. For more information on Massive Attack, visit their official website or Facebook.