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All told, The Faint, once again, have written a succesful album.
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It's complex and distorted, but at times it's not clear why the group's energy is purposely restrained.
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The latest from these Nebraska dance rockers doesn't instantly charm like the '80s flashbacks found on 2001's breakthrough, "Danse Macabre." But its fixation on the present pays off with repeated plays as clashing guitar and keyboard hooks hammer home the Faint's central theme--the chaos of a world in conflict.
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Fasciinatiion clicks enough of the time to make it a step forward from "Wet From Birth," and despite its unevenness, at times it can be fasciinatiing.
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Mostly the fascination here is with sounds-not-songs, which is fine for the year Portishead came back, as long as the Faint have enough dial tones and farts swiped from Thom Yorke's basement tapes to deck out Fink's traditionally one-note delivery when attention wanders.
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The band plays its own game of seduction throughout the album, giving us danceable, practically glandular beats while singing lyrics of fear and loathing.
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Overall, the album--self-produced, four years in the making and the band’s first for its own label--isn’t as catchy as “Geeks,” but works reasonably well.
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While Fasciinatiion is hardly neon-coated, it's dominated by a surprising aura of playfulness: Every instrument has been fussed-over and stretched beyond recognition, resulting in an otherworldly palate of sounds that borders on comical.
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FilterDon't assume every song on Fasciinatiion is schizophrenic, navel-gazing "why-are-we-here-and-what-does-it-mean" tome. [Summer 2008, p.91]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 14
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Mixed: 1 out of 14
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Negative: 1 out of 14
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MichelleMar 18, 2009
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dreevesNov 12, 2008
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LanceKSep 20, 2008