I have a nasty habit of getting into good bands after they break up. Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins… the list goes on. I first heard Portishead’s Dummy in the late ’90s, several years after its release, at the dawn of a decade of radio silence from these Balboan trip-hoppers. But the wait is over: Third, the (you guessed it!) third studio album from Portishead, debuts today.

Let’s get right to it: At first blush, Third is as ugly and jarring as a slap in the face from a close friend. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this damn sure wasn’t it.

It would’ve been very easy for Portishead to pretend that The Hiatus never happened - to take the safe road, falling back on the golden ratio of relaxed syncopation, funky keyboards, eclectic samples, and crooning vocals that they discovered in 1994. They did no such thing.

This record is often martial and aggressive, dark like an August thunderstorm where Dummy is dark like a November drizzle. Most of the insulating funk, hip-hop, and electronic elements of Portishead’s past have been stripped away to expose an angry, pulsing core that utterly defies description. There are elements of rock, the occasional electronic blips and bleeps, and even a gleefully incongruous banjo track that thumbs its nose at the diehard fanboy.

And I love it. Track by track, Third is a hit-and-miss affair for me. With time, I’ve grown to love “The Rip,” “Small,” “Magic Doors,” and even the aforementioned banjo interloper “Deep Water.” Other tracks are just plain ugly, and do very little for me. But the real impact of this album is its unabashed departure from established greatness into the dark unknown.

Further, the more I listen to Third, the more I recognize it as the logical extension of Portishead’s history - 10-year hiatus included. Close inspection reveals common musical threads: Beth Gibbons‘ voice is still the same as it ever was, and certain aspects of the drum patterns show stylistic similarities to past work. There are hints from guitar and bass here and there as well.

In many ways, the world is a darker and angrier place today than it was a mere decade ago. Where past Portishead albums wallowed in self-absorbed malaise, Dummy is haunted by more substantive issues. These are “Sour Times.” The future (and even the present) is uncertain. Third distills abiding discomfort and resentment to frame that reality in black humor.

Portishead, you made the right choice. Well done, and thanks for coming back.

If you’re interested in hearing it for yourself, samples of the album are available (streaming) on Last.fm.

Cross-posted to Newsvine.com.

Read more Listen In album reviews on Newsvine.

© 2008 Evan Mix for Listen In. Some rights reserved.

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