Album Review by EDF
Coming in on a wave of sound similar to NINE INCH NAILS come ABSENCE OF FAITH, a group sounding like their music should be featured in THE MATRIX. Mixing metal with most types of dance music, it’s quite hard not to like this release.
MISERY starts off sounding like early HUMAN LEAGUE and descends into DEPECHE MODE territory. FETISH SEX 2001 is a mixture of S.M. meets gothic dance beats. We are then greeted to the wedding march at the start of WHITE WEDDING, a cover of the classic BILLY IDOL track. Being one of the better cover versions of this track, we are treated to an industrial version without losing the original melody hook line. Would BILLY IDOL be impressed with this version? I would be surprised if he wasn’t.
ANIME GIRL pays homage to the Japanese cartoon figure while COLD deals with the loneliness from a break-up of a relationship. There is a core sound which runs throughout the album where we are treated to a range of different musical genres from the likes of the techno beats driven SURRENDER to HAUNTED, a hip-hop type of track with scratches.
While ABSENCE OF FAITH has only been around since 1999, this 3 piece from Clarksville, USA has created a unique and interesting sound that apparently translates well onto their live shows. Bass player Jerry Barksdale causes a bit of a stir on stage by hanging from flesh hooks while playing. Lovely. Meanwhile this enjoyable album is definitely one to annoy the neighbours with.
