Family Force 5 is at it again with a new group of remixes, as well as a few new tracks for us to enjoy. Reanimated. I must admit that I’ve been a bit annoyed with FF5 and their release re-releases of III, stylized as III.V EP, and the Crank It Like a Chainsaw EP, not to mention the release of the III EP a year before the full length album III was released. A little overkill, guys? Maybe.
Aside from the three new tracks, which I didn’t think were much of anything to compensate for the rest of the album, the remixes are very watered down. I would venture to say that out of the nine remixes, “Wobble (Smile Future Remix)” was the best. It sounded almost video-game-esque. I thought it was pretty fun. (Nothing compares to the original, though.)
The “Can You Feel It (Toxic Avenger Remix)” sounded messy. It was too all over the place for me to enjoy it. I could barely understand “Paycheck (Riley Friesen Remix),” again, not very strong. I did, however, like “Zombie (McSwagger Remix)” a little. It’s definitely better than the McSwagger remix of “Cray Button,” which compares nothing to the original, one of my favorites of FF5′s work.
And, where did “Love Addict” come in here? It’s 2013, not 2005. “Love Addict” has been used, and remixed, and used and remixed again. Time to retire that one from new releases, unless it’s in a “Best of FF5″ album. I can understand that maybe they wanted a bit of nostalgia in with the newer stuff, but it just didn’t work here.
Finally, what was the last song? It didn’t fit in. It wasn’t even FF5, for crying out loud! Sorry to get heated here…But wasn’t this a Family Force 5 album?
Now, I’m not saying that this is the end of Family Force 5′s career. I will say, however, that this was probably their weakest release to date, even though I wasn’t a fan of III either. Will this stop me from listening to FF5 forever? No, of course not, Soul Glow is just too enticing, but seriously, this could’ve been a lot, lot better. They’re the remix kings, right? What happened? Too many releases in too short of a time? Maybe…Only time will tell. Spend more time on your next album, though, guys.
