The Faint – Dance Macabre – Review

The Faint

Dance Macabre (Saddle Creek)
by Scott Hefflon

What will emo kids bastardize next? Chalk The Faint up as yet another bloated “next big thing” that’s all hot air… The letdown wouldn’t be so bad if the hype wasn’t so overwhelming, even some semi-reputable sources falling for the scam, thus perpetuating the cycle. Put it this way, Duran Duran was far better than these guys, and I have a few of their records if I ever feel the urge. I’m not against New Wave or ’80s dance/pop music in general, just the bad stuff. Sure, I’m a big fan of New Order, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, The Cure, Information Society, and hell, I even have a Falco record I rather like, and I was never even a New Waver, I just liked some of the music. But this? Most of it’s shit, especially the “suggested tracks for airplay.” The bouncy, Curish “Posed to Death” is pleasantly angular, but I have a stack of Cure CDs if ever I feel so moved. And while I like the racing freakshow of “The Conductor” and the distant lonesomeness of “Ballad of a Paralysed Citizen,” both were done more convincingly 15 years ago, so what’s the point?
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