Drum & bass star MUZZ expands his horizons on stunning debut album ‘The Promised Land’

It’s been 10 years since UK drum & bass star MUZZ’s first release, but it’s been well worth the wait for his debut album. “The Promised Land” releases today, September 3rd, via Monstercat, and it’s a bombastic ride through his widescreen vision of bass music.

The album is set in a futuristic sonic landscape, contrasting moods of darkness and euphoria; light and dark; heavy and subtle. At its core lies his trademark high-octane drum & bass epics, but this record sees MUZZ take his sonic palette and adapt it brilliantly to a range of tempos, rhythms and song structures. With a clutch of carefully-picked vocal guests providing strong songwriting and powerful performances, it’s a very complete and mature piece of work and is painstakingly structured to take the listener on a rollercoaster of emotions. Elements of rock, pop, dubstep, hip-hop and classical are woven throughout, making for an album where there’s never a dull moment; particularly when it’s all filtered through MUZZ’s pristine, hard-hitting production style.

From the soaring cinematic strings of instrumental opener ‘Valhalla’ into the trademark rowdy roll of ‘Nemesis’, and the feel-good half-time soulful vocal number ‘Start Again’, the album begins with a huge bang. MVE’s infectious vocals grace the powerful single ‘Out There’, leading on to the potent blend of old skool breaks and gnarly bass house of ‘Born For This’. Cammie Robinson’s sweet tones power euphoric synth-driven single ‘Star Glide’, while ‘The Sanctuary’ pushes MUZZ’s production to its limits, overflowing with fills and cuts and rasping bass tones. ‘Salvation’ is one of the album’s most distinctive moments, blending Bloodhounds’ heavy metal sound with pummelling D&B motifs. ‘The Warehouse’ see PAV4N and Miss Trouble bring hip-hop flavour to a dark, nasty beat, before Danyka Nadeau’s sweet vocals and soft piano chords arrive on the blissed-out ‘Somewhere Else’. Album closer ‘Catharsis’ features a usual suspect in MUZZ collaborations, Koven. Koven’s huge voice rocks an unusual reggaeton-flavoured beat to great effect.

“I wrote “The Promised Land” ultimately as a defining body of work where people can hone in on my musical style, my passion for deep storytelling and my diverse range of musical influences”, MUZZ says. “This album is my expansion from being recognised as just a drum & bass act — even though I was never about that from day one — as 5 of the 11 tracks are other genres and tempos. However, none of the drum & bass tracks on ‘The Promised Land’ are traditional; I’d describe every track on the album as being a hybrid of many genres, influences and styles.”

LIVESTREAM EXPERIENCE 
MUZZ’s debut “The Promised Land” proves his versatility in the dance space while still maintaining his signature style that fans have come to know and love. To showcase this impressive body of work, MUZZ has debuted the album in a full concert livestream experience at Bournemouth International Centre, joined by a full band, custom album visuals, and guest appearances from featured vocalists and collaborators including Koven, Miss Trouble, and Bloodhounds.  

Watch the audio and visual elements of this album come together here.