Like them or hate them, there's no denying that Orbital are a pretty influential group when it comes to electronic music. They were one of the first groups that proved that techno didn't have to be confined to nightclubs and filthy teenage bedrooms, and that it could work equally well in a live setting where the group actually gave a performance, rather than just pressing play and sitting back.

Of course, time goes by, and as Orbital became increasingly revered as one of the grandfather figures of the entire electronic music scene, their musical output became increasingly erratic. Their last album, "The Altogether" certainly wasn't terrible, but it lacked consistency and focus, and many fans decried it as the worst album that the group had ever put out. Feeling that the group had run its course, Orbital announced that after their final album and their final tour, they would stop producing music. So, "The Blue Album" is to be the final original release we see from the group, and fortunately, it's a fitting farewell.

The temptation must have been present for the band to either attempt to relive their glory days, and serve up a rehash of the best moments from their previous albums. While the band has succumbed to that temptation in some places, re-creating their earlier sounds without simply recycling their old material, they've also continued to innovate and come up with new ideas. Take the opening track, for instance. Transient is almost completely without a beat, and it's abstract, irregular bass pulses which slowly build to a crescendo of strings, is unlike anything else in the Orbital back catalogue.

Elsewhere on the album, some familiar themes are revisited, and these provide a lot of the meat behind this album. While it's good to hear the guys revisiting some of the truly great music that they've made, it's also a little bit disappointing, because while each of the songs here is still and original composition, they're still a little weaker than what the band has done in the past. Pants, for instance, is a slightly inferior reflection of Dwr Budr, and You Lot could probably be inserted into the first Orbital album without raising any eyebrows. It's a high bar that they've set themselves, and they come tantalisingly close, but they just fail to reach it.

Ironically, for an album billed as a summary of Orbital's career, the best moments on "The Blue Album" come when the band stops digging through past glories and come up with new soundscapes untainted by their past glories. Still, this rest of this album is good enough, if not the best thing that they've ever released. If you like the group, then you probably won't be disappointed by this album.