The dead rise and review...

The Faint - Fasciinatiion

To be blunt, 'Fasciinatiion', the new album from The Faint (and their first self-released album from their new label blank.wav) is rather disappointing. To be sure, the Nebraska boys haven't altered their 80's-referencing synth-rock/dance sound to any great degree - in fact, none of Fasciinatiion's ten tracks would sound out of place on any of The Faint's last three albums. Still, the album is even more uneven than 'Wet From Birth' was. While "The Geeks Were Right" is a pulsing club banger, other tracks (like "Fulcrum & Lever") are meandering exercises in storytelling, or tedious and overwrought (especially the boyfriend-girlfriend argument tracks "Psycho" and "I Treat You Wrong" as well as "A Battle Hymn For Children"). Hopefully with the distractions of their apparent disagreements with Saddle Creek behind them, The Faint can get back to writing killer dancefloor songs with actual hooks in them.
-N. Zombie

N. Zombie will be reviewing only zombie approved awesome albums weekly, to brighten your dreary existence. Or the opposite. Or whatever. :-)