Eric Prydz Opus released

Considering he’s been releasing records for over a decade, it’s surprising that it’s taken Eric Prydz so long to put out his debut studio album. Leaving it for so many years means expectation has raised each and every season, especially since he’s worked extra-hard at maintaining his profile over the past year.

As well as releasing a whopping 30 singles, 2015 saw him celebrate 10 years of his Pryda Recordings label with the ‘Pryda 10’ series as well as preparing for the next phase of his EPIC concerts, which have been re-designed to include an even flashier collection of holograms, lasers and 3D technology. But despite all that, he still found time to produce this massive 17-track album. With his previous singles including ‘Call On Me’, ‘Pjanoo’, ‘In And Out’ and Pink

Floyd mash-up ‘Proper Education’, you’d be forgiven for assuming this release would be quite commercial. But while he usually saves his Pryda alias to explore deeper sounds, recent tracks released under his real name such as ‘Generate’, ‘Liberate’ and ‘Opus’ itself give you a better indication of the direction he’s taken here. There’s no doubt it falls into the progressive category, but the LP’s mixture of instrumentals and vocal-led tunes has lots of different elements to it.

Tracks like ‘Moody Mondays’ (complete with David Bowie-esque vocals from The Cut) and ‘Black Dyce’ provide an early-Human League feel, and are a stark contrast to the dreamy ‘Sunset At Café Mambo’. He changes it up on ‘Trubble’ and ‘Klept’, too, to give the album’s middle-section a darker, grittier feel, before ending on a high with 2014 hit ‘Liberate’. It would have been easy for Eric to serve up a ‘Best Of’-style album, but we’re glad he went down the Deadmau5 route of not including any of his greatest hits. It proves he’s a similarly inventive producer who’s more interested in moving forward than looking back.