by Kingsley Marshall
For over a decade, Rob Haigh has provided an alternative to the boom-clack dynamic that inevitably led many of the early drum'n'bass disciples looking elsewhere for their club kicks. As with Haigh's earliest extended players, his fifth album draws the listener in through interweaving sequences of wide-eyed key lines, often establishing the grooves within the first few bars before working the bassline into skeletal percussion and building up the groove through luscious electronic pads. Though the plethora of post-rave synths occasionally borders on twee, with fans of the more mechanical beats which dominate the movement likely to give Even Angels Cast Shadows a wide berth, there is a quality and admirable attention to detail throughout which will keep drum'n'bass dabblers content.