One half of Faith Massive may be better known to those readers who frequent the web as the US-half of the Tastyfresh website--Jamie Wright. Jamie, along with Joey Davis, presents the second drum 'n' bass release on a Christian label (the first being Trip's Cultural Shift), and to these ears, the Christian dance scene is setting off on a good foot as it explores this subgenre.  
  
This release has a slightly jazzier side to it than Trip's album, at least on a couple of tracks. There are a few more vocal samples too--the album kicks off with a reading of Genesis 1.1. There is a generally ethereal feel to the album, with other sounds (like vocals) floating above a landscape shaped by various beats.  There isn't much in the way of lyrics; aside from the samples, the human voice is simply used as another instrument to build up layers of sound--the female vocalist is certainly very talented. 

While this doesn't reach the level of Roni Size's ground-breaking New Forms, it is certainly influenced by that work and is a consistent, well-produced album, deserving of the ear of any dance/electronica fans. 

By James Stewart 

Faith Massive is a new drum'n'bass outfit on N-Soul records. Various sources compare them to mainstream groups such as Roni Size and LTJ Bukem. Not being very familiar with the genre myself, I can only describe it as hyped up percussion layed over mellow synth tracks, with a few ethereal vocals thrown in for good measure. The only close comparison I can come up with is World Wide Message Tribe's trancier mixes, which is actually my least favorite aspect of their work, which should show you where I'm coming from. I haven't yet figured out how one would rightly go about dancing to this type of music, particularly with such a curious mix of fast beats, and laid-back synths. But I could see it used as soundtrack music, say for a high-tech action thriller, a chase scene at night, periodic lulls punctuated by frenetic action. However, I won't be shooting any such  films soon, so though there is nothing aurally offensive, I find nothing particularly compelling in it either. So if you, like me, have not yet wandered that end of the dance music spectrum, this release is no reason to make that journey any time soon.
 
By Titi Ala'ilima  

Drum 'n' bass has exploded on the dance music scene.  It grew out of the hardcore house/rave scene of the early nineties. It's a sub genre of jungle music which rather than using the straight 4-4 beat of house and techno music (boom-boom-boom-boom), relies on breakbeats - the sort of funky drum breaks played on old soul records sped up to between 160 and 180 beats per minute. Drum 'n' Bass is a style of jungle where the beats don't tend to be as complex as usual (jungle usually features sampled breakbeat loops which are cut up and replayed) -- the bassline is usually the most prominent element of the sound. 
  
Faith Massive is Jamey Wright (also known as DJ Seven) and Joey Davis.  In Drum & Bass for the Masses the drum and bass keep the music at the high energy of dance while combining with some nice atmospherics of flowing, synthesized instrumental which give the music an ethereal feel. The combination works very well. The production is excellent.  This is the first entire drum 'n' bass album released to the US Christian market.  Pick it up today.   
  
By Shari Lloyd