Underworld

Underworld

Oblivion

with Bells

(Ato Records)

After a five-year break in which Underworld cultivated a more organic sound scoring movie soundtracks, Oblivion with Bells is an audibly convalescent affair following a decade of thrills, pills and doubtless bellyaches endured by one of the more thrillingly chaotic dance acts of the 1990s.

A thick gloss coats the music, with any raw edges neatly polished. Pristine openers Crocodile and Beautiful Burnout display the band's current ambient leanings, with the latter's Vangelis-tinged closing stages personifying the change. A break beat attempts to muscle its way through the mood, yet barely grows beyond a foot tap. That would have been unthinkable 12 or so years ago.