FAITH NO MORE: Sol Invictus (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

To begin, I would like to apologize to the fans of the golden age of Faith No More, those who swear by "The Real Thing" or "Angel Dust", those who think that we'll never do better than these 2 great references, and I'm not even talking about the defenders of the Chuck Mosley period, those ones probably deserted the band with the arrival of the UFO Mike Patton in the late 80's. In short, "Sol Invictus", Faith No More's new album is probably not up to these glorious elders but does it make it a bad album ?

This album contains a lot of nuggets that reveal all their flavors as you listen to it over and over again. Starting with the single 'Superhero' worthy of the best of Tomahawk (damn! Those riffs and this hardcore vocals), as well as the almost perfect sequence of the 3 excellent songs that are 'Rise Of The Fall', 'Black Friday' and 'Motherfucker'. All the genius of Faith No More probably lies in this triptych, a clever mix of easy-listening, spaghetti western soundtracks and devastating riffs that the band has always had the secret. And what about Mike Patton's vocals then? This one is always perfectly assured, whether it is in a crooner or hardcore register and, contrary to what he could do during his solo career, with Mr Bungle or Fantomas, he never goes for the big anything, which we could rightly reproach him sometimes.

It's true that beside these compositions, we also find more anecdotal songs, like 'Separation Anxiety' whose unnecessarily rough side will remind you why this band is always classified in the metal category, or 'From The Dead', the nice ballad at the end of the album that we could have easily done without. But who could have imagined a few months ago that the band would release a new album? In the end, what can be a little frustrating is to realize that Faith No More released, after all this time, an album of less than 40 minutes. We then imagine that since the reformation of the band in 2011, there was still some material to be exploited, and who knows what nuggets it still has in the toy box (we remember some excellent B-sides or even some unreleased tracks from the "King For A Day..." period).

Once again, let's not sulk our pleasure. "Sol Invictus" is a good album, perhaps imperfect, but let's give it time to settle quietly in our memories. I even know some who are now re-evaluating "Album Of The Year", so... - Official website

FAITH NO MORE

SOL INVICTUS

IPECAC RECORDINGS

ROCK