As easy as it is to acknowledge U.K. trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack as one of the leading influences in contemporary music over the last 20 years, it's equally as easy to imagine that Heligoland, arriving February 9 from Grant 'Daddy G’ Marshall and Robert '3D’ Del Naja, would never have been made. Rancor and disharmony over musical direction have plagued Massive Attack throughout their career and it has, after all, been seven years since 2003's "100 Windows", a well-received project that nonetheless led Marshall and Del Naja to pretty much call it quits. "Luckily, we came through it," reflects Marshall, "because it turned out that the bond was stronger than that moment in time."

Even more than usual, inspired collaborations are a critical M.A. component on Heligoland. Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, amazing singer Martina Topley-Bird, Blur's Damon Albarn, veteran vocalist Horace Andy, Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval and Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley all guest and the results are remarkably diverse and definitively accomplished. There's simply nothing else quite like the sound of the darkly erotic "Paradise Circus", where Sandoval's seductive vocals straddle an ascending keyboard riff, a percussive bed of beats and handclaps and finally a slinky dub bass line.  Or the disorienting layers of blips and bleeps behind Garvey's rambling, off-beat (literally) vocals on "The Flat of the Blade", an adventurous track that finds the delicate tightrope balance between dangling melody and gorgeously messy electronic rhythms. Brilliant, challenging and ultimately redemptive, Heligoland is a magnificent return to form. Highly recommended.

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Massive Attack - "Paradise Circus" (featuring Hope Sandoval) (from Heligoland)

Massive Attack - "Pray for Rain" (featuring Tunde Adebimpe) (from Heligoland)