Album Review: Fist of God - MSTRKRFT
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 06:13PM 
The new MSTRKRFT album is a bit of an odd one and it isn't particularly easy to explain why.
Around the time that Justice unleashed their début album Cross MSTRKRFT were also releasing their début The Looks. One artist went on to becoming a bit of a cross-over phenomenon whilst the other played it much cooler. At the end of the day however The Looks still got plenty of attention from the bloggers and, now that the Justice backlash has officially begun (check Krissi Murison's review of Peter, Bjorn & John over at the Guardian), MSTRKRFT's first album still gets praise heaped on it.
Fist of God is another crack at mainstream success and MSTRKRFT are going all out - check the guest spots from rappers N.O.R.E. and Ghostface Killah - and, seemingly as a result many have been turned off, giving this album a hard time.
It's understandable insofar as Fist of God is very different - it's a much louder album, drawing on the rock band leanings of Justice and Jesse F Keeler's former heavy metal project Death From Above 1979. The use of vocals is also a departure - the first album may have had a few vocal snippets but it was far from lead by them, Fist of God on the other hand has more vocal tracks than instrumentals and they are very hip-hop and R'n'B influenced.
The result does admittedly have a pop music feel but there are still some nice moments - the old skool rave transition into 'Breakaway' from 'Word Up' and the rough intro of opener 'It Ain't Love'. What really stumps BlackPlastic though is the people that hold The Looks up as a masterpiece only to shit on this.
Both MSTRKRFT albums are enjoyable but neither could honestly be considered great (certainly not on a par with either Justice's début nor DFA 1979's sole album). The Looks lacked polish and ideas whilst Fist of God has both in spades in places but then lacks variety (and 'Word Up' featuring Ghostface Killah is quite quite horrible).
So Fist of God is worth checking out, yes. As good as The Looks? Probably. Brilliant? Sadly not.
BP x
Available on Amazon.co.uk on CD
Reader Comments (3)
No offense but aren't you being a little nice? This album is TERRIBLE!! A useless effort to save the fact that their sound is dated and their programming is less that average. I think that the world has made a terrible mistake by worshipping these guys. Their music is bland and lacks style. All the money that was put into recording this piece of irrelevant crap couldn't even save this from disaster. But take a look at their fans. Young rich drug addict kids that drool over Jesse Keeler and that ugly moustache of is. Pathetic.
Woah - a reaction! Always glad to stir up a bit of passion Lisa! You are right in that MSTRKRFT generally don't deserve the praise and attention they get but I'm not sure I could go as far as TERRIBLE. The new Prodigy album is terrible, this is just average... Maybe BlackPlastic should have specified: Worth checking out if you liked the first one.
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MSTRKRFT lovers have the worst taste in music and fashion. Jesse Keelor is nothing but a rich kid who's mommy gave him everything he wanted...including a career. He is a big poser and bandwagon jumper not to mention his lack of respect towards people. JFK is a classic example of someone who should have never become famous because he literally takes advantage of it in a bad way. His talent is mediocre and his pockets are deep. Do not be fooled by this Charlatan!