The Chemical Brothers. Undoubtedly one of the most pivotal dance duos in the mid-nineties, creating a genre and a decade in the process, awash with triple-A singles and beats. As far as the dance music of Britain goes they are unrivaled pioneers in their genre, and perhaps untouchable in that area too, at least when it comes to the singles and the subsequent impact they've made. But with their last handful of albums, faith has begun to waver and doubt has become a common problem amongst fans. Thankfully however, 2007 and the release of their newie "We Are the Night", marks their return to success, as well as the glory days of the nineties.

With the lead single "Do It Again" raising eyebrows (and frustration) as well as gaining significant airplay the last few months, the duo couldn't have picked a more challenging single to represent the album and indeed their comeback, but over repeated listens the song is certainly not without it's charm and suspicious appeal. Love it or hate it, it's still no real indication of what to expect on the rest of the album, but burrowed within the tracklisting it still feels ever so in place, a complete opposite of some of the other tracks included on the album, most notably Das Spiegel and the "is this for real?" "The Salmon Dance", the two of them combining comic sound effects into something largely out of place and unlistenable, stealing the record of it's otherwise excellent pacing. But before the mid-album problems, early on in the record as well as after there's some real gems, very representative of what the 'Brothers are about.

Title track "We Are The Night" is an epic neo-psychedelic dance into the unknown, largely instrumental and devoid of any real vocal structure, which works to its favour completely. It's familar territory, and very reminiscent of the instrumental stylings of their "The Test" collaboration with Richard Ashcroft, but sprinkled with space-rock, a recurring theme throughout the rest of the album. The slow-paced but equally epic "Burst Generator" is further reinforcement of this idea with grinding guitar and astral electronics, all on top of a killer beat throughout. Again, the track is, for the majority pure instrumental, and clocking in at six minutes fifty-two seconds, it is absolute anthemic bliss.

Along with the incredibly simple "Saturate" this idea of neo-psychedelic groove, the notion of specialist space rock is very much at large and completely shapes the album in it's overall sound. To some extent yes there is a rock-sounding focus to this album with it's focussed cymbal percussion and afore-mentioned guitar, and it makes for an interesting listen, that while accessible, is completely different from what you'd expect. "Harpoons" stretches this idea even further by adding distorte4d guitar to the mix in a formula of ambient chill-out bliss, similar to moments of Zero7. That's not to say that there's not unfamiliarity as "A Modern Midnight Conversation" is instantly recognisable as a Chem Bros track.

A returning familiarity also is the inclusion of guest vocals on many of the tracks, the ultimate (and best) example of this being the third track on the album, "All Rights Reversed" featuring recent mainstream darlings, The Klaxons. But it's more than just a quick-collaboration and is easily one of the other major highlights of this album, combining the driving neo-apocalyptic vocals of the Klaxons with the beats and grooves (and sound effects) of the chemicals, in surely what's one of the best musical collaboration this decade, and hopefully the next single to be released from the album.

As mentioned, while We Are The Night is an absolute return to form in some places, rather unfortunately, it sucks in others with it's light-hearted take on dance music and rhyme. Certainly a lot of the tracks present are major attractions, all with varying effects naturally, but that irksome "The Salmon Song" half way in ruins the album of what it could've been, and turns the whole experience into a wasted one. Regardless, FWD TRACK exists for that very reason, and We Are the Night is not only a reason to get excited about the Chemical Brothers, but also, the dance music genre in general.