It's all true. The new Portishead record is different, yet very much the same. Weird? Yes and no. The sound of Portishead is strikingly similar to that of 1994's groundbreaking Dummy. The difference lies within the sampling. Whereas Dummy was comprised of instantly memorable, bleak and dreary tracks, all sampled from old jazz, blues and film soundtracks, the band chose to record their own sounds, press them to vinyl, and use those as their launching point.

The melodies here are more jagged than those on Dummy, and Beth Gibbons' aching yowls are more distinguished and dramatic. Songs like "Elysium" and "Half Day Closing" probably won't really strike you until you've played them a few time, but tracks like "Over", "Humming", "Only You", and the sensational closing track, "Western Eyes", will grab your attention immediately.

Despite that it takes some getting acquainted with, though, Portishead comes very close to matching the twisting, dark road spirals of Dummy after it's sunk itself into your skull, and has permanently engraved itself in that giant slab of cold concrete that is the history of your life. Something tells me it's only gonna get better from here.