NEW YORK -- With a new album on the way and America fixed in his sights, Massive Attack leader and frontman Robert delNaja knows that he's standing at the brink of something big.

It's the crossing over to that place that he's not so sure about.

For now, delNaja's sitting in his New York hotel room watching Saudi Arabian soccer, talking of the British trip-hop band's plans to present its third album, Mezzanine (due in May in the U.S. on Virgin), to these shores and hoping to finally break through in this market.

Despite relative indifference in the U.S. to Massive Attack's previous work, the band is supporting the release with a new tour and increased stateside media exposure, including the first-ever posting of a downloadable version of the entire LP on the Internet weeks before it hits stores.

Still, delNaja says he is determined to keep from overexposing the band.

"We're not going to expand too quickly," says the 32-year-old delNaja, a.k.a. 3- D. "We did about 12 U.S. dates for Protection [Massive Attack's second album]; this time we'll do about 15, starting in July. But we keep redeveloping the show. It's boring re-creating albums onstage."

Not only boring, but for the Attack, it's a difficult feat. The band's music incorporates elements of rap, hip-hop, alternative, reggae, punk, rock, pop, dance, soul and new age, among other sounds. It's so hard to re-create their studio sound, in fact, that Massive Attack shows often exclude the songs' original vocalists, since many only guested on the recordings. The first U.S. single, "Teardrop" (RealAudio excerpt), for instance, features lead vocals by Elizabeth Fraser, formerly of the Cocteau Twins, who joins reggae legend Horace Andy and soul singer Sara Jay in providing guest vocals on the record.

Adding to Massive Attack's live dilemma, the band also is often without much of its high-tech equipment onstage, delNaja says, and considering the ensemble's tendency toward long, ambient pieces, fans are left with a whole new approach to much of its material live. "Our audience needs to have a strong attention span," delNaja acknowledges. "We're not a singles band."

Certainly, this is at least part of the reason that the band's first two albums never broke in America. And delNaja is aware of it.

Hoping to make the music more accessible, the band's newest work captures a mood and an intimacy that more closely mirrors the band. Dark, foreboding songs such as "Inertia Creeps" and "Group 4" feature threatening vocals and pulsing beats that drive delNaja's oblique lyrics. A prime theme of the disc is life changes, which creeps up in songs such as "Risingson" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Teardrop," the single that deals with Fraser's feelings about having a child. "The album is more reflective of ourselves [than previous efforts] and of the instability in our lives and the duality of being in a band," he says. "The darker tone [of the new album] comes from stress and paranoia within the group. We [worked out] personal obsessions on this one."

To make sure that the U.S. gets the message, Massive Attack -- whose other members are Grant Marshall (a.k.a. Daddy G), 39, and Andrew Vowles (a.k.a. Mushroom), 29 -- have a multi-pronged plan for expanding their base of U.S. listeners, a group that delNaja perceives as "mixtures of the curious and quite a lot of people who know everything about our music."

Besides live radio broadcasts and a full-length video of shows and concept clips for the new songs, an important component of the plan this time around will be the Internet. The band began previewing every song from Mezzanine on its website (www. massiveattack.co.uk) on March 20 -- more than three weeks before the April 13 release date in the U.K. The move marks the first time that a major-label artist has allowed an entire album to be available on the Internet before its release.

DelNaja acknowledges that it could be a risky move, however, due to widespread Web pirating of unreleased music. That said, though, it could also introduce the band to millions of new listeners. "More people (will be able to) hear it as a whole piece," he says.

While they continue to have a low profile stateside, Massive Attack have, in the past, collaborated with one of the world's most well-known artists, Madonna, with whom they worked on a cover of the soul classic "I Want You" for a Marvin Gaye tribute album released in 1995. "She was very cool, very professional," delNaja says. "She sang well, with passion ... That's important."

DelNaja likens the band's collaborative tendencies to that of the Clash -- one of his main influences and his favorite band -- who also worked with various reggae artists through their career. "They send tracks over to me," says reggae king Andy, who has recorded on each of Massive Attack's albums. "I work with anything I like. I worked with them since their first album. I like what they do. They were fans of mine. You can hear it (in the music)."

Post-Mezzanine plans for Massive Attack include an album of remixes and outtakes. The band will also be doing some movie soundtrack work to add to its contributions to "Batman Returns" and "Welcome to Sarajevo," as well as the upcoming film "187."

Looks like Massive Attack are finally on the attack in America.

"We have no commercial aspirations," delNaja says. "We've never done a lot of press, but (this time) we thought, 'We're still here; we'd better deal with it now.' "