Mindless Faith- Momentum

Artist: Mindless Faith
CD Title: Momentum
Label: Metropolis Records
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 11/07/04

Mindless Faith put out great, techno-influenced EBM, with occasional guitars thrown in just to keep things edgy. Their latest album starts off with a bang – or rather an ignition switch, given the rocket-propelled beats of “Canaan.” A lot of the tracks are like that; despite religious overtones to some of the lyrics, the whirling, science fiction electronics and high-speed beats of songs like “Momentum” make me think of nothing so much as the soundtrack to some futuristic car chase scene. This isn’t groundbreaking, exactly, and Mindless Faith is hardly the first band to mix EBM and psychedelic trance elements, but it’s so tightly put together that you can forgive them for occasionally sounding a bit generic, as they do on “Singular.” The more guitar-oriented songs are also interesting. Instead of going straight for an industrial metal feel, Mindless Faith is still heavily electronic, with coldwave-influenced guitar chords that just seem like another layer of sound instead of overwhelming the songs completely. The mid-tempo “Incubation” draws more attention to its cinematic keyboards than its guitars, and “This Is the Last Time” even works in some drum ‘n’ bass elements. Instrumental interludes like the melancholic but soothing “Looking For Something That Isn’t There” or the ambient outro “Inevitability” further showcase the band’s gift for arrangements. As a bonus, this disc also includes the “Ritual Mix” of “Canaan,” which transforms the original’s high-energy EBM to a creepily psychedelic synthpop masterpiece. For more information on Mindless Faith, visit the band at www.mindlessfaith.com.