Where Hard Fi met Abba...
Like or loath "Fantastic Six", you can't help but find it really clever. What Alpha Beat have managed to do is gel together a big heap of beaty, catchy and well-loved hooks from a whole load of styles and places (from Kaiser Chiefs to Eurovision) and squeezed in a good twist of cool indie sensibilities.
"Fantastic Six" is by no means indispensable or even that great. The overall sound will begin to grate reasonably soon and all of that invention will eventually serve for nothing more than a reason to why you originally bought it in the first place. It's not hard to see this record becoming annoying. But the impression given is one of the first gospel rules of pop music - it should not have a future; it should exist for today. And today it sounds pretty good. If you ever want Reverend and the Makers to stop their bloody whining and dance then this is definitely for you. But even if you're not that keen on your new rave, there's probably enough here to hold your interest and its definitely worth a pop.