Once the missing link between the disparate early 00s New York scenes of electroclash and The Strokes, The Faint foretold new rave with ‘Danse Macabre’ around 2001. Having jerk-danced their way off the Ultra New Wave map in 2008 they now return with album seven, their goth-tinged electro-rock undimmed, their melodies unsettlingly wonky and their heads filled with scary voices (‘Help In The Head’, ‘Evil Voices’, ‘Mental Radio’). A good seven years out of date, ‘Doom Abuse’ is pure synth-pop mania, frequently teetering between unadulterated Trent Reznor pop brilliance (‘Unseen Hand’, ‘Lesson From The Darkness’) and impressions of Skrillex driving a monster truck through a Savages gig in a video arcade (‘Animal Needs’, ‘Dress Code’). Does it abuse you? Oh yeah…
Mark Beaumont