Massive Attack’s 1998 album Mezzanine is presented as a deliberately radical departure from the group’s earlier sound, arriving as Britpop declined and pop culture was dominated by “Girl Power”. Its dark, unsettling and distinctive style made it feel unlike either contemporary music or the band’s own previous work, helping establish it as a landmark record.

Robert Del Naja, the group’s principal creative force on the album, later described the period as a “chrysalis moment” in which Massive Attack were trying to become something different. The article frames this artistic reinvention as both the source of Mezzanine’s bleak beauty and a cause of serious internal strain within the band, ultimately pulling its members apart.