Massive Attack returns with Boots on the Ground featuring Tom Waits

After a decade-long hiatus from releasing purchasable music, Massive Attack has returned with their new single ‘Boots on the Ground’, featuring Tom Waits. The track is emblematic of the band’s evolution since their seminal 1991 album Blue Lines, reflecting a darker, more abstract sound that incorporates post-punk experimentalism rather than the trip-hop and soul influences of their early work. Waits’s vocals, distinctive and Beefheartian in tone, dominate the seven-minute track, which opens and closes with unsettling breaths and includes a moment of complete silence, adding to its disquieting effect. The lyrics, delivered from the perspective of a violent, unrestrained figure of authority, combine surreal and disturbing imagery, critiquing contemporary warmongering and societal aggression. The single is accompanied by a video that documents social issues such as Black Lives Matter protests, ICE raids, and homelessness among veterans, further cementing the band’s engagement with political themes. Although unlikely to rival the commercial popularity of Massive Attack’s classic hits like ‘Teardrop’ or ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, ‘Boots on the Ground’ is a powerful, ominous reflection of the turbulent times, demonstrating the band’s continued relevance and willingness to tackle difficult subjects through music.