Customer Reviews

Angel Dust

5 star:		(217)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Let's go back to the time that this album was recorded. You are a band that has been around, even to the point of being on your 2nd lead singer in Mike Patton. Your last album was a surprise breakthrough mainstream hit thanks to the surreal song, "Epic", which broke into the Pop Top 10 and the video was constantly on MTV. Your band seems destined to break out and become a major commercial star. So what do you do? You release an album in "Angel Dust" that was so commercial unfriendly that you kill any chances of being pop successes. And what is wrong with that you ask? Nothing - it is just a gutsy move to say the least by this band that has influenced all kinds of "nu-metal" bands these days (none are as good as FNM).

Anyone familiar with Patton's other band, Mr. Bungle, will feel that "Angel Dust" is an album that would seem more appropriate for Mr. Bungle than Faith No More, but it showed the variety of styles that this band could play. Sadly, this would be the last album for eccentric guitarist, Jim Martin, with the band, but he is in fine form along with Mike Bordin, Patton, and the others. All of the tracks are great, but my favorites include "Mid-Life Crisis" which might be the only real close commercial track on the album, "Crack Hitler", "Be Aggressive", which has cheerleaders and is an ode to oral sex, and "RV" which is a hilarious song, partly because Patton sings it in a white trash type of voice. His range on this album is incredible. The album ends with a version (instrumental) of "Midnight Cowboy", and considering that you hear all kinds of stuff on this album like organs, choirs, cheerleaders, etc, it seems appropriate.

You will probably not like this album on the first listen, unless you are a weirdo or a Mr. Bungle fan, but give it a chance as it will continue to grow on you the more times you listen. One of the most underrated albums of all-time, in addition to being one of the most daring. Faith No More, essentially, was never the same band after this album. And little wonder - as not only did the album destroy any commercial hopes they had (which was probably zero) but more than that, it was such a brilliant album, that it was impossible to top it.

...asks Mike Patton on this, easily the most underrated album of the '90s - it is light years ahead of it's time. I bought this album when it was first released in '92, being 19 years old and already a pretty big fan of FNM, but nothing on earth could prepare the listener for this, and eight years later it still hits you like a sledgehammer. Quite simply, the most emotionally draining, mood altering album available. Genres collide, ideas explode and hooks crash together, and still it sounds as cohesive as a classical piece! Anybody who seriously thinks that Korn, Slipknot, etc. are the epitome of heavy music, get your head out of the sand and realize it was done as a masterstroke almost a decade ago, rendering all newcomers redundant. In my 900+ album collection, covering everything from jazz to country to classic rock to "alternative" (or whatever that means today) and back again, this astonishing, indescribable album is one of the top ten, an amazing & unforgettable journey from start to finish. "Angel Dust" is Faith No More's, not to mention heavy rock's, finest hour.

Faith No More. Three words guaranteed to provoke some sort of response, either a numb-brained "oh yeah, the hip-hop metal band", or an informed "the very eclectic gentlemen musicians". Having garnered an international reputation on the back of 'The Real Thing', the pressure was on the band to deliver an album of literally stadium proportions. And they did, but with a superbly oblique sense of humour, and an amazing mastery of melody. Starting with the sinister circus dance of 'Land Of Sunshine', complete with fortune-cookie/Church of Scientology lyrics, and ending with an inspired cover of the theme from the film 'Midnight Cowboy', Angel Dust never once ceases to amaze and enthrall in equal measure. Mike Patton (without doubt the most talented vocalist of his generation ; how many opera singers can also do grindcore growls?) displays his supremely capricious style with a personality unique to music, and it would be a fair assessment to say that Faith No More would be half the band they are without his prodigious creativity. Not to take away from their collectively fantastic musicianship, but Mike really brings the songs to life. 'Caffeine' displays the then-revolutionary song structure taken for granted these days by the 'nu-metal', but none of the new faux-psychos (the nearest would be Corey from Slipknot) can quite match Mike's unnerving appeals to 'relax, it's just a phase', nor can they open up such a song into the multi-dimensional masterpiece that it is. But Caffeine is nothing compared to the following track 'Midlife Crisis'. Quite simply genius. Mike gibbering his lyrics over a classic FNM keyboard line, with a suitably hypnotic drum tattoo and bass line underscoring Jim Martin's 70's riffs succeeds in constructing a timeless song for the ages. The epic sounding 'Smaller and Smaller' incorporates Native Indian chanting alongside Beavis and Butthead laughing in perfect harmony. The poppy sounding 'Everything's ruined' gives a chart single with a social conscience. 'Malpractice' bears the distinctive mantle of being one of the few songs in the world that incorporates almost every kind of music in the world into a sub-4 minute song about a patient's fetish for having surgeon's hands inside her body. Quite how they managed this considerable feat only proves their vast abilities. 'Be Aggressive' charts the progress of a homosexual act, except that there is a cheerleader chant in the background, which you will be humming to yourself for days. 'A Small Victory' yields yet another potential single, complete with Michael Jackson-esque whooping scattered throughout. The James Bond stylings of 'Crack Hitler' could really be used as the soundtrack to a spy film, and the lyrics have nothing to do with drugs, except for the spoken word bit near the end. The last FNM song on the album, 'Jizzlobber' is a truly psychotic work, with frenetic keyboards playing around the processed riff, and Mike giving it hell with some seriously powerful vocal work. Metallica fans will notice the similarity between the middle bit of this song, and 'One'. As either an ode to masturbation, or just celebration in general, it ends with a camply-epic orchestral finale, truly a Faith No More moment. The albums influence on later bands (particularly the so-called 'nu-metal')was immeasurable, but in terms of quality it is far in excess of any of them. Some called this Faith No More's final classic moment, but as much as I agree that it is a classic, FNM were consistent to the bitter, yet paradoxical end. It's a damned shame that they are gone. The world will be a less fun place without them.

Faith No More isn't Faith No More if it plays by the rules, so as a follow-up to the platinum hit The Real Thing, the band cooks up this minor art-rock classic, whose song topics and music are about as difficult as they come. It's not even fair to categorize Faith No More as alternative rock -- the term is too mainstream for *this* band.

"Midlife Crisis" is the closest thing on this record to a "normal"-sounding song, normal being a relative term in Faith No More-land. A funky bassline, a menacing low-register verse rap, grand guitars and keyboards, and a twistily catchy chorus with Patton's voice weaving in and out. "A Small Victory" is strange, the melodic keyboard strains at times almost reminding me of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" (? ), "R.V." is an absolutely weird piano-based song, sounding like a jester thumbing his nose at you, and the end track, the "Theme from Midnight Cowboy", comes out of nowhere, in character with the rest of the album.

There are fewer moments of sheer exhilaration and instantly appealing songcraft on Angel Dust than on its predecessor, The Real Thing. But Angel Dust is still one of those albums you can never finish exploring, and come back to time after time.

I first became an FNM fan with The Real Thing. That album totally blew my mind, so the day Angel Dust came out I naturally rushed out and bought my copy. At first I was a bit disappointed as it sounded totally different. After a couple of listens I realised it was the best album I had ever heard, light years ahead of the Real Thing, if that's at all possible. From the stark, shocking artwork to the songs on the CD, it is a masterpiece.

It seems that everybody has their own interpretations of what the songs are about (and I have my own ideas too) but the feelings I got from the songs - loneliness, sadness, fear, aggression, but at the same time elation, were just as important. Angel Dust came out at a time in my life as a young adult when I was feeling those exact same emotions, and it was just like a soundtrack to my life back then, as if they could see inside my head.

Every song is mindblowing but if I could possibly come up with some standouts they would be the frightening Caffeine (I actually think they're chickens and a cow at the beginning, just like on the back cover), the extremely catchy Mid Life Crisis, the feeling of hopelessness and redundancy in Smaller and Smaller, the powerful Everything's Ruined, the incredibly aggressive Malpractice, more hopelessness in Kindergarten, the rollercoaster ride that is A Small Victory, the nightmarish Jizzlobber and Midnight Cowboy - such a gentle song after such a powerful album, that it brings out all the emotions.

Of course the guys are still in top form - the reason I started worshipping FNM in the first place. How could this music be the same without Jim Martin's harnessed electricity guitar-playing, Bill Gould's virtuoso bass techniques, Mike Bordin's powerful and intricate drum patterns, Roddy Bottum's eerie keyboard ambience and Mike Patton's versatile vocals, all setting the scene for the one-hour fright rollercoaster ride ahead.

Tragically I can't say the same thing for their subsequent releases, which never captured the same combination of intensity, musicianship or lyrics that was found here (Jim Martin was sorely missed). Mike Patton said this album was "self-conscious" - I don't agree, I think "King for a Day" was the self-conscious album, trying too hard to be the opposite of Angel Dust's dark and menacing mood.

When you buy this precious album you won't know how you survived without it.

Mike P, Mike B, Roddy, Bill and Jim, it's been 10 years. THANK YOU SO MUCH for Angel Dust.

Leave it to the Mike Patton era Faith No More to strike a chord in the mainstream, and then give it the big middle finger. I absolutely loved The Real Thing, and even more so, loved watching MTV VJs flounder as they had to repeatedly play "Midlife Crisis", the first single from this album, despite thinking to themselves, "Ewwwww...this is dark! And gross! I don't like this!"

And thus was most of the mainstream's response to Angel Dust. Where The Real Thing promised a new wave of melodic weirdness, Angel Dust seemed to suggest that this band was actually...well...just on Angel Dust.

However, fans of music, and not simply trends, recognized and continue to recognize the absolute brilliance of this album. If you are looking for a good reason to pick this album up, I have over 190 that average out to give this masterpiece a five star rating; many written within the past year. This is a testament to this album's widespread appeal, and reassuring longevity.

In many ways, Angel Dust is The Real Thing on steroids, and the results are much like hitting an extra 35 homeruns a year: quite exciting and frightening at the same time. The riffs are better, the bass pounds louder, the drums accentuate the ever-so subtle tribal rhythms of this band better than before, and Mike Patton, possibly the most underrated influential rock musician of our time, displays such a range of feeling and technique that I simply cackle to near suffocation when I hear people drool over Mariah Carey's high-pitched squeal of limited emotion. I mean seriously, with his collaborations with the Root's Rahzel, the X-Ecutioners, Fantomas, The Dillinger Escape Plan, hip-hop underground producer extraordinaire Dan the Automator, and his Mr. Bungle and solo releases, Mike Patton has ever so quietly changed the face of progressive rock/metal, and the road began with Angel Dust.

This is an unclassifiable album, except to say it is one of the best ever. Incorporating maniacally perverse melodies (Kindergarten, Land of Sunshine, Crack Hitler), previously unheard levels of heaviness (Malpractice, Smaller and Smaller), and quirkiness that makes The Real Thing seem like an episode of 7th Heaven (Be Agressive, A Small Victory, and my personal favorite, the scummy jazz lounge-tinged ditty told from the perspective of a drunk trailer-park dad, RV) Angel Dust is a ride with, literally, non-stop thrills.

What Faith No More hit upon with this album is that rarely-attained holy grail of originality, catchiness, and timelessness. The production is so tight, with all songs building to near pandemic choruses. This feat is accomplished by carefully brewing the instrumental ingredients, and with swirling/twisted carnival keyboards, prominent and absurdly abrupt bass notes, crunchy, yet crystal clear guitar tone, tribal drumming, and the brilliantly schizophrenic vocal stylings, Faith No More were able to create a masterpiece which immediately calls to mind those works of art which will never be replicated. At the very least I can say that 13 years after its release, this is an album that I, and obviously many others, would call one of the greatest albums you could treat your ears to.

I was appalled to find out that this record was a commercial disaster. It's great! A masterpiece, even! And it seems 100 or so other people on the site seem to agree somewhat. I'm guessing they've covered the finer points of Faith No More's Angel Dust in detail, so I'll just give an overview...

This album has everything for the demented music lover. "Land Of Sunshine" sounds like a Mr. Bungle b-side. "Caffeine" is opened with monkeys and contains the only swear on the CD. "Midlife Crisis" has some tribal-sounding drums and a quirky bassline. "RV" is a piano-laden monologue on the life of a trailer park junkie. "Smaller and Smaller" is an aggressive funk tune. "Everything's Ruined" contains an ethreal piano part, making it sound much like a song from The Real Thing. "Malpractice" veers close to death metal at some points and integrates parts of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8. "Kindergarten" has an addictive guitar line and shows off Patton's rapping ability. "Be Aggressive" is sexually explicit, but also contains a catchy cheerleader chorus. "A Small Victory" is probably my favorite track, with incredible singing and awesome Oriental keyboards. "Crack Hitler" sounds like a spy theme song, and "Jizzlobber" is 6 minutes of pure venom, ending with majestic/sinister cathdral organs at the end. Finally "Midnight Cowboy" is the album's closer, and is the band's rendition of the theme by John Barry.<

I started listening to Faith No More when i received their first album with their singer (Mike Patton). The real thing was a solid, funky, heavy, and overall great record. After digesting that album for a little while i decided to explore their later and less accesible work. After getting opinions and reading reviews, i concluded that most true Faith No More fans believe Angel Dust to be their finest work. I have come to Agree totally.
The beginning of the record starts out with the dark and twisted, yet irresistably catchy tune of "Land of Sunshine". While this album tends to differ much from "The Real Thing", one factor is present from the start of this album; Mike Patton's flexible and amazing voice is in it's prime condition, topping his efforts on their previous album. He goes from his nasal pitched tone associated with the hit "epic" to the powerful bellow of what could be mistaken for an opera singer's in a minute's worth of time.
After the opener "Land of Sunshine" Faith No More experiments even further with the grinding number "Caffeine". Musical variety is even more present in this album than before. Also, the keyboardist, Roddy Bottum is employed for even more affectiveness.
There is almost always one standout musician in every band, and that award would have to go to the drummer, Mike Bordin. He lays down intricate and complex drum rythyms as if it was as easy as writing your own name. Faith No More would have never been the same if they had a different, less talented drummer in replacement of Mike. I hear he's working with Ozzy osbourne in conjunction with some ex-members of Alice in Chains. God bless them all.
I'll lay down descriptions for all the tracks:
1. Land of Sunshine. Funky and dark, a great opener and personal favorite.
2. Caffeine. Grinding and harsh, yet so great at the same time.
3. Midlife crisis. Not truly a "rock" song but more of a rambling with Patton employing his unique style of rapping backed by a funky basslien and softer-than-normal insturmentals.
4. RV. Weird, little piano-based ditty about some middle-aged fogey living in a mobile home and complaining about his abusrd problems. Wonderfully catchy.
5. Smaller and Smaller. A harsh foreboding number bearing resemblence to "Caffeine".
6. Everything's Ruined. Darker funk than the other three funky tracks (Land of Sunshine, Be Agressive, and A Small Victory)
7. Malpractice. A disturbing song that is more akin to the heavier tracks "Caffeine" "Smaller and Smaller" and "Jizzlober".
8. Kindergarten. Song about a guy who can't graduate from kindergarten. Strange and heavy, but more melodic than the four heavy tracks mentioned above.
9. Be Agressive. Funkyfunkyfun. Has a cheerleader chorus that will stick in your head like a tumor.
10. A Small Victory. Upbeat number about heaven knows what.
11. Crack Hitler. Sounds like something that came from a spy thriller soundtrack. Actually has really nothing to do with one of the most hated men in history.
12. Jizzlobber. Chaotic and heavy.
and out of nowhere comes... 13. Midnight Cowboy. Would belong well in a western film. Random, but great closer.
I love this whole album. It's one my only albums that I loved at first listen and has stuck with me the whole time. I reccommend getting "The Real Thing" first and letting your musical mind digest it for awhile before getting this odd, little masterpiece.

Even after tasting popularity and critical success with The Real Thing, Faith No More regarded artistic exploration as more valuable than record sales. Good thing too, or we'd probably have never heard this outstanding record. Angel Dust is an immaculate piece of daring songcraft and studio magic -- the perfect album for anyone who likes challenging music. Even ten years after its release, there has been nothing like it.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), describing the effect of Angel Dust's bold experiment is like trying to describe a sunrise to a blind man. Yes, you can explain the hues of the sky, the way "rods & cones" in your eyes pick up light and color, and maybe the physics of celestial bodies. But do you really convey the simple majesty of dawn? Angel Dust is like that...it's so strange and interesting that it's difficult to discuss in specific terms. Perhaps my analogy is a bit over-the-top, but I do believe Angel Dust is one of the most original albums by anybody, ever. You really have to listen to it to understand it.

From a biased point of view, I might pick "Caffeine" as my favorite, because it starts with MONKEY SOUNDS (which moves into vicious thrashy riffs and murderous screams). But actually, it's tough to pick out favorite songs from Angel Dust, because all are interesting and different and add something special to the album. The album is low on hooks -- the cheerleader bravo chorus on "Be Aggressive" is quirky and catchy; "Everything's Ruined" has a very singable refrain; "A Small Victory" is a more laid-back rocker with smooth melodies.

But everything else is much more offbeat and weird. As a matter of fact, Angel Dust's music is often violent, deranged, and frightening. There's something certainly unsettling about the opener, "Land of Sunshine", where Mike Patton's maniacal laughter, odd carnival-flavored keyboards, and punching bass line create an addictive wall of sound. "Crack Hitler" is spooky, with its funk-inspired guitar & bass interplay juxtaposing a sinister keyboard melody and Patton's creepy vox. "RV" is just plain bizarre, based on the piano with Patton playing the part of some guy speaking his thoughts as he sits in his trailer. "Jizzlobber" is about as haunting and fierce as music can get, but it throws you off by ending with a grand church organ. As diverse as every song is, somehow the pieces always manage to fit. Even the band's take on the "Midnight Cowboy" theme suits perfectly as a mellow conclusion to the craziness that has gone before.

If you're looking for an album that will remain fresh and interesting for 100 years, Angel Dust is for you.

After 1988's commercially successful The Real Thing introduced the crazed genius of Mike Patton to the world, Faith No More's future seemed set in stone. What followed in '92 was a dark, dense, and creative album that pretty much slammed the door shut on their MTV prospects, and we're all the better for it.

First off, don't be fooled by those saying that Angel Dust is difficult or inaccessible (leave sobriquets like that to latter Patton projects like Fantomas or his collaborations with John Zorn). No, this is for the most part VERY accessible, VERY tuneful, and just all-around great. However, it achieves all of these things without an iota of artistic compromise.

Angel Dust represents the point where Patton's true abilities are revealed--on The Real Thing his vocal talent and immense range were hinted at, but often inhibited by a whiny, nasal quality (attributed perhaps to the fact that the songs on that album were written for Chuck Mosely, Faith No More's original vocalist, who had a very different voice from Patton's). However, on Angel Dust Patton truly cuts loose. Lounge-singer croons, vicious snarls, white-trash mumbling (as featured on RV), rapping, a creepy baritone, screams--you won't believe it all emanates from one man's voicebox. One of my favorite vocalists of all time, Patton's prescence as a frontman can firmly reduce all but the most talented bands to supporting players in The Mike Patton Show.

Which is not to say that the rest of Faith No More's (guitarist Jim Martin, bassist Billy Gould, drummer Mike Bordin, keyboardist Roddy Bottom) talents aren't evident. The band has never played better here, in the alternative/funk-rock, bass-and-synth dominated style that made them so different from most of their guitar-oriented contemporaries--this time with a darker, more demented bent, all the better to accentuate the equally demented lyrics.

Opener Land Of Sunshine combines fortune-cookie phrases with bizarre laughter and moody bass--we're not in Kansas anymore. This is followed by the stream-of-consciousness rant Caffiene; the impossibly catchy Midlife Crisis (possibly the most radio-friendly song on the album); the goofy redneck raving of RV; the grindy funk-metal tune Smaller And Smaller (with an out-of-left field tribal breakdown that totally makes the song); the ominous and evil Malpractice; a hilariously perverted ode to oral sex with cheerleader chants in Be Aggressive (justifying the Parental Advisory sticker); the absolutely insane Jizzlobber with its wacked-out church organ; and a baffling rendition of the Midnight Cowboy theme to close the album out on a relaxing note.

Not a single note wasted here. Easily Faith No More's best, and an essential component to any aspiring Pattonphile's collection.