Four years on from his debut release, Skream is back with his new album Outside The Box. MistaJam.com’s resident Electronic music fan Sam Moir reviews it.

While it’s been 4 years since we were treated to Skream’s debut album, you can hardly say Ollie ‘Skream’ Jones has not been busy. As well as his massive remixes for the likes of Bat For Lashes, La Roux and Donaeo, there have been two compilations comprising of 81 tunes; not forgetting the three “Freeizm” zips released in the build-up to ‘Outside The Box’ this summer (another 18 tunes in total). Then there’s the Magnetic Man project he has been working on with Benga and Artwork and the numerous collaborations with the likes of the Autonomic camp and Wiley. I guess calling Skream a prolific producer is to sell him way short.

To discover this album, you need to take yourself back to the past. When Skream exploded on to the scene in 2003, his sound was dark, minimal and an emphasis on bass. Seven years later and we have a whole new take on Dubstep.

In 2009, Skream announced himself to the mainstream with his La Roux remix of In For The Kill, a remix that seemed to leave the original in the background and bring new listeners to the genre.

Outside The Box incorporates it all; the original Dubstep sound, the genre in 2010, the US’ take on it, some strong vocals and finally and most importantly the potential power of this phenomenal sound.

Skream told DJ Mag that he doesn’t ‘see it as Dubstep any more, I just see it as this big community of UK bass music.’ You will not find one better line to sum up this LP.

The dreamy themed Perferated starts the album leading into 8-Bit Baby. A collaboration with LA rapper Murs. It is a song that relefects the US’ take on Dubstep where the aggressive aspects of the genre is supported more.

There’s the 8-bit computer game inspiration behind CPU leading into, for many people, one of the stand out tracks of the album, Where You Should Be. Given its first ever play live on his one-hour mix at Glastonbury 2010, this has been one of his most supported tracks from the album. The use of the talk box make the Sam Frank vocals a powerful force. Skream has said he has listened to this over 500 times.

In to a personal favourite, How Real, a beautiful collaboration with Freckles and another track that shows the power of the vocal with a strong future garage sound about it.

After three heavily vocalled tracks, Skream slows it down with Fields Of Emotion. Kicks & snares supported by the synth and wobble. Not one that would tear the dance floor up but one you could quite easily chill to on your headphones.

With I Love The Way, Skream brings in Jocelyn Brown for the vocal sample allowing the basslines and synths to maximise the power of her voice.

Halfway through the album and a special moment for the producer, surely Listenin’ To The Records On My Wall was deliberately positioned here. When Skream spoke to Zane Lowe about the track when it was made Hottest Record In The World back in May, he said how it was a throwback to the jungle records he used to listen to. Debates continue over what genre you can place this in, dubstep, d&b and there is even someone coining ‘drumstep’ on YouTube videos of this track. Forget the genre, it’s just good music.

Wibbler pretty much does what it says on the label, bass-wobbling dubstep showing the emphasis of bass in the genre. This is one of the tunes you would expect to go off in the club.  With Metamorphosis there is new direction of the album, the chilled, minimal approach. An atmospheric track with echoes, sharp synths and kicks.

Step forward La Roux. For Finally, La Roux returns the favour Skream did for In For The Kill by offering her powerful vocals complimented by the low bassline.

Living up to it’s name, this is not a Dubstep album from a Dubstep producer and the drum & bass direction of the end of the album shows that Skream is not just a pigeon holed producer, he wants to take his sound everywhere.

With Reflections, another chilled out track, d&b producers dBridge and Instra:mental were programming drums and playing the pads and strings, allowing Skream to focus on the bass.

A Song For Lenny is a personal dedication to a lost friend and obviously must be a special song for Skream. It is another personal favourite, that makes me want to reminisce days gone by.

When Skream first sat down to organise the final tracklisting, I’m presuming that he initially intended to end with the album with A Song For Lenny but something changed his mind and there is one last treat in store for the listener.

The aptly named The Epic Last Song is a fantastic and upbeat jungle end to an adventurous album. It is a song that keeps on going and you never want to stop.

It says a lot for the album that the only major criticism of it is the lack of fan favourites, Give You Everything (only on the deluxe CD) and his collaboration with the Newham Generals, I Can’t Wait which were both dropped from the final record.

Outside The Box is an album that epitomises Skream’s career in fourteen stunning tracks and should give him mainstream acclaim he deserves. While I love the entire 14-track record, there are people who feel the album is weak in places, most notably the collaboration with Murs but accusations of him ‘selling out’ hold no ground.

The album should act as gateway that new listeners can walk through and discover this incredible genre.

Buy Outside The Box on Amazon from today