Revered techno DJ Dave Clarke returns to the studio for his first album in seven years. If ‘Devil’s Advocate’ is the theme as well as the title of the record then he gets it right. This is not what you’d expect from a techno bod.

The album gets off to a blistering start with the old school, eye rolling, acid house flavour of ‘Way Of Life’. But Clarke is no white-gloved day-glo sporting nostalgia merchant. ‘Devil’s Advocate’ reverberates with the sound of the future as he takes tired old genres and jolts them to life with injections of invention, like a shot of Dopamine to a catatonic. Chicks On Speed join him on vocals for a couple of tracks, the second of which, ‘Disgracelands’ is a brilliant and furious rant about staid rock’n’roll conventions, that’s like a bunch of PVC clad techno punks cruelly beating on old man Rock down a neon lit alley.

Much like his debut album, ‘Archive One’, Clarke draws heavily on his hip-hop beginnings. The most obvious example is ‘Blue On Blue’ which features a war themed rap from Mr Lif as the slow breaks resound to a background of explosions and gunfire. He uses the hip-hop techniques of cutting and pasting throughout, whilst culling samples from a variety of genres.

And just when you thought he’d forgotten about it, along comes the stunning techno monster that is ‘The Wolf’. An outrageous stomper of a track, it’s like the theme tune to Bullitt updated for a future era of flying cars and supersonic speeds.

The sheer variety of forms from house to rock and techno to rap, makes ‘Devil’s Advocate’ a gripping and intense listen. Clarke has created his own unique sound and one of the best dance albums of the year.

words: Colm Larkin

For streaming audio of all tracks from the album plus the video for Way Of Life (directed by Eds Holdsworth) check out Dave's new look website at www.daveclarke.com.