From the outset, with Donny X's spine-tingling synth-swathes and brooding sub-bass, it's evident that Outrospective plays to Faithless' strengths. The band has always been more than just a dance act. Deft practitioners of all areas of modern music, it is affecting textures, seductive atmospheres and haunting melodrama, with dance culture as a back-drop, that's their real forte. First single "We Come 1" is the safe banker, combining Rollo's unnerving soundscapes, Sister Bliss' dancefloor mentality and rapper Maxi Jazz's deadpan voice to recall the power of previous best "Insomnia". "We Come 1", like "Tarantula" and "Machines R Us", also represents an upping of bpm that reasserts their club relevance--something which had diminished with last long-player, the down-cast Sunday 8pm. There's also a marginal upping of optimism with the gorgeous "One Step Too Far" (with the inevitable appearance of Rollo's sister Dido) and Philly Soul of "Muhammad Ali", with Maxi Jazz singing, literally, the praises of his childhood hero, also countering Sunday 8pm's gloom. But the lure of their third album, as ever, lies in Maxi Jazz's chilling monologues. The voice of inner thoughts, desires and conflict, there's nothing quite as arresting as when he quietly muses on "Not Enuff Love": "Money in my pocket / But I just can't give no love". --Dan Gennoe