On previous releases, Skrillex followed an easy, cheesy dubstep formula: chest-pounding waves of bass, head-spinning drops and squelches, and horror movie screams.
His music had all the appeal of watching Transformers hump: exhilarating at first, but things quickly became repetitive, noisy and boring.
That changes on Recess, an album on which the electronic dance music titan shows a ridiculous amount of restraint.
Sure, there are occasional moments of dodgy, dated dubstep: the robotic stomp of opener All is Fair in Love and Brostep is the kind of barrel-scraping fare that will appeal to those that loved Skrillex's YouTube-conquering hit Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites.
Thankfully, things get far more interesting after that - especially when Skrillex drops the drops and crafts proper tunes for his guest stars to embrace. Try the horn-drenched class of Coast is Clear, which features the talents of rising hip-hop star Chance the Rapper and is barely touched by typical Skrillex trademarks. Dirty Vibe is a big beat trap anthem helmed expertly by Diplo and that sounds like a futuristic hip-hop hit. Best of all is Stranger, a warped hands-in-the-air anthem featuring the sublime vocals of Milo and Otis' KillaGraham and an addictively woozy synth riff.
