Angel Dust - Faith No More > Reviews > Bizarre Brilliance - Updated

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	Original, brilliant
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Faith No More’s mix of Rap, Funk, Metal and a certain lead singers hair cut (Or rather, hair not cut) lead to comparisons with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and while fans of Faith No More do tend to be fans of the Chili’s and fans of the Chili’s tend to be Faith No More fans, their music isn’t overly similar. Faith No More have something approaching a New Romantic streak in their music, as unlike many bands who get session players in, Faith No More have a full time keyboard player. Think Duran Duran mixed with Metallica and that’s probably the closest image you’ll get without actually hearing their music.

Faith No More’s first album with their final singer, Mike Patton “The Real Thing” was as close to the Chili’s as they got. After that both bands headed off in different directions. Faith No More headed off along the road marked “Strange”. Legend has it that Mike Patton’s contribution to “The Real Thing” was a weekend spent writing lyrics after the band fired previous singer Chuck Mosely. However when the time came to write the follow up to “The Real Thing” Patton was a firmly established member of the band and this increased the previously slightly twisted approach Faith No More took to song writing.

Angel Dust is Faith No More’s finest album (Not to mention strangest, though it’s not in the same league as Mike Patton’s ‘other’ band, Mr. Bungle). Opening with the relentlessly cheerful and at times manic Land Of Sunshine, the strangeness of the album is immediately impressed on you by the lyrics. They are made up entirely from a Scientology personality test and Fortune Cookie fortunes. It mainly gets stranger from hereon in. One exception to the strangeness is Midlife Crisis, more like Faith No More’s music on The Real Thing and one of the best tracks on the album. RV is another strange track, telling the tale of a wife beating, beer drinking couch potato from his own point of view and is one of the slower tracks on the album with twisted country guitars providing most of the backing. Now it gets stranger… Kindergarten, well – I don’t really have a clue what this one’s about but the bizarre playground element of the song should keep you entertained. Equally entertaining (If with a subject matter you wouldn’t want to discuss with your kids) is Be Aggressive, mainly written by keyboard player Roddy Bottum (Yes really!) the songs chorus is made up of cheerleaders chanting “Be Aggressive”. It’ll bring a smile to your face but whether that will remain when you realise what the song is about is down to you.

It’s hard to pick the best song off this album as it’s one of the few albums I own where I like each and every track and my favourite tends to vary depending on my mood. At the moment I’d say my favourite track is Jizzlobber, probably the heaviest track on the album and perfectly offset by the bizarre inclusion of a cover of Lionel Richy’s Easy as the last track. I said it was strange!