The Faint – Doom Abuse

These Nebraskan digital punks vanished like a deleted file not long after the release of 2008’s Fasciinatiion, seemingly leaving The Faint to be no more, Todd Fink’s lo-fi mutterings fading into nothing. 2014 sees them reunited for their sixth studio album, with a worrying question mark over their conviction.

Fink is back on vocals, his trademark chanting urgency present on tracks like Evil Voices and the preachy Animal Needs, and the backing is consistently thrashy and synthesised. Plugging into the record is, at first, like jacking in to a glitchy speaker stack and letting it buzz your cranium, the pneumatic beats thudding in your teeth.

But where Fasciinatiion was musically accomplished yet lyrically bizarre, Doom Abuse falters on both counts. It’s their sound, all right (warping synths, cyberpunk FX, and chunky bass), but it barely innovates like Blank Wave Arcade’s sexual venom or the squealing electro-punk of Wet From Birth. [George Sully]