FAITH NO MORE: Angel Dust (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

"Angel Dust" is undoubtedly the most impressive Faith No More album. While only three years separate this one from its direct predecessor "The Real Thing", the comparison seems quite simply impossible. Faith no More has indeed gone from a kind of carefree and colourful metal fusion to a dark and experimental Metal/Rock.

The term experimental is not synonymous here with dissonance or technical feat. Indeed, the music of this formation always remains melodically accessible and the structures remain in their totality rather simple. This qualification would rather come from the turns that the majority of the titles take.

While some bands are content with the too classic verse/chorus format, Faith no More offers breaks such as on "smaller & smaller" and its Indian vocals, countless stylistic effects, from the very strong drums on "Everything's Ruined" to an explosive mix of wah-wah riffs and Hammond organ on "Be Aggressive" (this last one will be wickedly plagiarized by a certain Marilyn Manson) through the numerous digressions in the fusion metal (Riffs + rapped lyrics) so dear to the band since its beginning.

As for the dark term, very appropriate on the major part of the album, it reaches its apogee on tracks like Crack Hitler or the disturbing Jizzlobber in which, screams, unhealthy chords and ultra heavy riffs mix to give a terrible sensation of sourness. The last bars of this track with organ and church choirs in a very mortuary style can even give you goosebumps.

But we must admit that Faith no More would certainly not have reached such a fame without its voice. A true chameleon, Mike Patton has a facility to vary his interventions, so much so that one sometimes wonders if the singer is really the same on all the titles. By turns distorted, screamed, clear and melodious, raging, soft, Patton's voice is in tune with the atmosphere of the composition to make it live. The nasal aspect that characterized his vocals in "Real Thing" has simply disappeared.

Sharp or liberated guitars, omnipresent keyboards in the background, variations, originality, amazingly accurate interpretation, all the elements are gathered on this "Angel Dust" to build an album that is sometimes hard to listen to, but an album that is out of the ordinary and above all, for its time, out of time. - Official website

FAITH NO MORE

ANGEL DUST

SLASH

ROCK