Album: Infadels – The Future Of The Gravity Boy (Wall of Sound)

Infadels certainly make the most of their impressive contacts list, after two albums produced by Jagz Kooner and Youth respectively, electro house producer Alex Metric gets a go this time. Two changes are instantly noticeable; after making a big shift from an edgier version of Kasabian on their debut to big sounding indie anthems of the second, here they scuttle back to the dancefloor after failing to reach the big arenas aimed for last time.

The other point is that Metrics influence is so powerful that at times this album should go under his name with a featuring credit for Infadels. This over-reliance is a trap they seem to fall into with each release and pity their poor drummer, he was obviously making tea during these sessions as it’s pounding 4/4 beats and Deadmau5-ish synth stabs all the way, at times it’s hard to even tell what involvement any of the band other than the vocalist has had.

This is Infadels under a strobe light and Metric playing at being a rock band, the end result is a bunch of unrelenting indie-house tracks, the kind of which Does it offend you, yeah did so well five years ago. Not to say this is a failure, it works really well at times, the title track and ‘Encounters of the first kind’ are big room tunes with serious dance floor intent, the latter containing the kind of buzzing synth riffs favoured by late 90s hard trance producers. The jittery ambience of ‘Explain nothing’ is a perfect opener to the final track; ‘5 03’, the understated euphoria via electro beats and heavily sampled vocals make it a highlight, not only in terms of quality but it also highlighting how Infadels aren’t even the main attraction at their own party. 6/10

Chris Todd