Netsky - 3 [Review]

It's been a long time coming, but last month, Netsky finally dropped his much-anticipated third album, imaginatively titled '3'. It was all the way back in 2012 that Boris blew our brains out with his equally-imaginatively titled second album, '2'. The Belgian producer was lauded back then for his anthem-packed sophomore effort. Has he managed to recapture that magic for album number three?

Well, it's clear from the outset that Boris means business. The album starts off confidently, and, it has to be said, also a little familiarly, with opening track Thunder. Emeli Sande is in tow for this one, lending her vocal prowess to a stomping effort that wouldn't at all have been out of place on previous album '2'.


And things continue in much the same way, with Boris clearly having enormous fun doing exactly what he's good at, with second track Work It Out, a solid, if unspectacular, radio-friendly tune, and of course with Rio, which set the dance world alight last year. Digital Farm Animals are in tow for each, a partnership that clearly works well.

But by this point, you'd expect Netsky to be getting these bread-and-butter tracks right, and indeed he does. Things start to go a little awry, however, when things take a slightly more unexpected turn.
'3' sees Boris step out of his comfort zone with numerous tracks, and slightly surprising collaborators, to varying degrees of success.

TNT, featuring Dave 1 of Chromeo, is an utter joy, with different styles colliding gloriously in a track that's as retro as it is innovative.

Forget What You Look Like, though, isn't. It feels like a very poor attempt at aping the sort of track that the likes of Jack Ü have had enormous success with. It's not a terrible track, but we've rightly come to expect a lot better from the Belgian.

But by far the worst offender is Higher. You might expect two heavyweights like Netsky and Jauz to come together to create something very special, but what we actually got is nothing short of terrible, and it has absolutely no place on this album. As a standalone single, it's stomach-able, but as the last track on a very good album, it's incredibly poor.

Which is an almighty shame, because preceding track Bird of Paradise would not only have been the perfect way to close out '3', but is also one of the best tracks that Netsky has produced in years. So jarring is the transition into Higher, that you do start to wonder whether that was a very, very late inclusion that wasn't originally destined for this album.

But let's not get too caught up in that particular disappointment, because there's still an awful lot to like here. Stay Up With Me is an absolute highlight, is gloriously anthemic, and extraordinarily well-produced. I remember Boris debuting this particular track on stage at Global Gathering all the way back in 2014 and being blown away at the time. Two years later, it's lost none of its impact.

Tracks like this just serve to make tracks like Higher all the more baffling, however, and the perhaps surprising absence of tracks Running Low and Without You, as well as several other tracks played live that are nowhere to be seen, does make me wonder whether at some stage, a third album much more like his second existed.

If that's the case, I would very much have liked to have heard that particular album, as it would have been the perfect follow up to '2'. However, that's not the alternate reality we're living in, and what we have is still a very good album - just one that's ever-so slightly confused.

On balance, I'd still heartily recommend you go and listen to '3', particularly if you're a big fan of '2', as there is a lot to like.

Just do yourself a favour, and stop one track early.

The Octopus' Rating: 6/8

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Alex Simpson

Writer, musician, and all-round top guy. I set up Excited Octopus. Currently, I'm on a one man team. It gets lonely sometimes. But I don't mind, because I love you all.

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