Album review: Infadels - Universe in Reverse

2006 was the year Infadels appeared out of nowhere. Songs like Topboy, Can’t Get Enough and Jagger ’67 get a lot of airplay and they tour the Netherlands several times that year. Their shows are a party and will cheer you up no matter how badly you are feeling. Charismatic frontman Bnann has a very infectious energy level, and gets everybody dancing. First album We Are Not The Infadels does pretty well, writing a second is going to be hard!

Infadels main men are Bnann and guitarist/keys man Matt Gooderson. Singer/songwriter Bnann mostly loves his acoustic guitar and Bob Dylan, Matt is into electronic dance music. Combined these tastes form the basis of their songs.

Like the first album, Universe in Reverse contains mostly up-tempo tracks with catchy melodies, nice riffs and a selection of surprising sound effects. The party starts off with Circus of the Mad, which has a lot of crazy sounds. It seems a little hard to follow when you hear it for the first time, but after a few plays it turns out to be one of the better tracks on the album. First single Make Mistakes is nicely up-tempo, but not as mind blowing as Can’t Get Enough. Overall, the songs on Universe in Reverse are a little more mellow than on the first album.

The songs don’t really get enough justice until you have seen this band play them live. When you see Infadels play and dance their heads off, the songs really come to life. Like Free Things For Poor people, which will be the second single, or Code1. Universe in Reverse also offers a few quieter songs, like Don’t Look Behind You, where you hear a completely different side of the band.

Verdict: Universe In Reverse is a fine album with high quality songs. It contains a few highlights that will definitely get the crowd moving. Not as good as We Are Not The Infadels, but definitely one to have!
Imre