Faith No More
Angel Dust

Who would have thought? Take "The Real Thing": imaginative, surreal, gritty, capable of collecting killer singles like "Epic" and spectacular ballads like "Falling to Pieces". The characteristics to make that album an absolute masterpiece were all there, and indeed that's exactly what it became, a monument of the then-emerging crossover movement, which aimed to blend rap, metal, funk, and electronics. Few managed to succeed, and among them, the Faith No More should not be forgotten.

After the turning point achieved with the previous album and the addition of the explosive Mike Patton (singer of Mr. Bungle) to the band, Faith No More refrained from offering a repeat of what had been said up to that point and instead aimed for a complete change in atmospheres and tones. A new turn, therefore, this time toward territories that foreshadow the rap-metal of the '90s, without however remaining stuck in this category: if the beautiful single "Midlife Crisis" (with a chilling chorus) uses a typically funk rhythm and envelops it in expressionist atmospheres thanks to the versatility of the keyboards and Mike Patton's growl singing, high-sounding psychodramas like "Caffeine" take advantage of a whole range of elements from different genres: symphonic keyboards, thrash guitars, melodic vocalizations alternated with almost grind-like spasms, snippets of horror theater acting. Several tracks sink their claws into this bold fusion of genres and techniques, like the penultimate track "Jizzlobber", the dramatic peak of the album, which after an exhausting orgy of screams, menacing riffs, and thriller melodies fades into an organ requiem. The tracks that perhaps aim for a more linear crossover are "Everything's Ruined", which opens with a haunting piano melody and continues with a funky pace in tension-filled verses, where the abrasive guitar riffs are showcased, paving the way for a choral refrain full of anguish, and "A Small Victory", more relaxed and melodic, in which keyboards and samples take the lead. However, the band does not forget the more jester-like and "Zappa-esque" side of themselves, crafting a twisted country-blues track like "RV" in which Patton mocks the "big voices" of devil's music (Tom Waits, for example), "Crack Hitler", a frantic paced spastic funk-rock occasionally interrupted by Nazi-style military marches, and the no less bizarre and whimsical "Be Aggressive", fashioned along the lines of "Crack Hitler" with an added demented cheerleader choir in the chorus.

After listening to such an album, one might feel completely exhausted. But not from fatigue, rather from the variety of genres and styles offered, an intricate and fascinating puzzle made of pieces from different mosaics, something that only the group's imagination and particularly Patton's superb directing ability could create. "Angel Dust" is a masterpiece of dramatic tension, a kind of hallucinatory comedy in which man is ruthlessly alone in the face of his destiny, lost in the depths of a "midlife crisis" that grips him with doubts and uncertainties. In this sense, the album is comparable to a theatrical play or a film, with a real screenplay and real protagonists. Faith No More would produce another worthy work ("King For A Day... Fool For A Lifetime", from '95) and an album I consider decent ("Album Of The Year", 1997) after which they would fade away. They can be happy, and especially we can be, with the fact that they have left us a legacy like this, two masterpieces like "The Real Thing" and "Angel Dust", among which I would choose the second as the highest point without denying the qualities of the first. And yes, I miss them, oh how I do...