Mindless Faith

"Medication For The Misinformed" (Album, 2007)

Dependent

Yet another album energised into being by the US administration's so-called 'War on Terror' (Suicide Commando were one early entrant into the field with their 2003 concept album Axis of Evil), so to see Medication For The Misinformed appear in the last month of 2007 with that same theme as a driving force seems a tad old hat. However, to give the band their due, this album has been two years in the making with recording beginning as far back as January 2005, and only finishing in September of this year. Receiving this in the post prompted me first to go back and revisit their last album Momentum and that reminded me of just how much I enjoyed elements of that previous long player.

In comparison, Medication... unquestionably sees musical development and also a maturing songwriting style resulting in a more cohesive whole, and as a highwater marker of where the US industrial music scene is these days this is a able representative. Interestingly, in seeking to take their sound further forward, Mindless Faith seem to have drawn inspiration (perhaps unconciously) from the old school of American and Canadian industrial music artists of the early 90s. So the sound is a dense, contemporary blend of guitar heavy, almost industrial metal/industrial rock that releases like Rivet Head Culture way back in 1993 documented so well. As such it suceeds well and although some of the production does feel like it has been constantly fiddled with for twenty four months there is a distinctive edge to the album that raises this above the average. Although totally unrepresentative of the album as a whole, the slow instrumental The World Behind The World is the stand out track for me. Unfortunately, otherwise it's just a style that does little for me leaving me largely unmoved. Others more sympathetic to the genre or Mindless Faith themselves though are advised to give this a good hearing and could find more substantial rewards. 6/10

Rob Dyer (December 2007)

"Momentum" (Album, 2004)

Dependent

(Also released in the US on Metropolis) American outfit Mindless Faith's Momentum is an eclectic and imaginative mixture of influences and styles. At its weakest, it's dance floor driven electro industrial, but that morphs into more interesting and inventive trancey (almost) Juno Reactor territory, and goes further still into the realm of instrumental SF film soundtracks and less commercial cut-up beats.

Whereas most bands would struggle to shoehorn their influences into one core, coherent sound, as a band Mindless Faith have clearly got no hang-ups about expressing their wide-ranging stylistic influences just through this one project. More curious is that they largely manage to pull it off. Instead of this sounding like a jumbled mess of genres, awkwardly and suddenly switching from track to track, they are so good at nailing almost every genre they take on that Momentum winds up being an eclectic yet largely successful third album. 7/10

Rob Dyer (March 2007)

Official Mindless Faith website: http://www.mindlessfaith.com