On their sixth album, the Brothers are struggling to work it out. The "it" has always been simply to get the masses dancing.
However, We Are the Night is almost devoid of the big punchy crescendos and breakdowns that made the Chems not only a powerful dancefloor actbut a mainstream staple with their debut Exit Planet Dust, and Dig Your Own Hole in the mid 90s.
Okay, so the big beats - the trademark sound that, along with Fatboy Slim and the like, spawned a new dance genre - might come across a little dated nowadays, but they're more inspiring than this bleepy, meandering drivel.
The first four tracks are solid, especially the title track, which starts low-key and builds into pulsing beats, droid-like jingles and spacy vocals.
Tracks with flaky and flat robotics like Das Spiegel, the cow-bell clatter meets early 80s Herbie Hancock of A Modern Midnight Conversation, and the silly Salmon Dance, are stranded in their own uninspired glitchiness.
The shame is this glitch never becomes a full-blown groove and you'll be longing for the days of those escalating epics like Song To the Siren and Block Rockin' Beats. Bring big beat back, Brothers - that's what you do best.
Label: Astralwerks
Verdict: Brit duo need to bring the beat back
