Artist: "Faith No More"
Album: "Angel Dust"
Genre: Alternative Rock
Label: Slash Records

Reviewer: Protoclown
Posted: 2/14/2008

Review: Several years ago when RoG was still living in Richmond, he and I were in a music store and he convinced me to pick up Angel Dust. I was only vaguely familiar with Faith No More's music, having not been exposed to much beyond "Epic" at that point. After picking it up on his recommendation, I was so impressed that I quickly found myself buying up the rest of their albums, but there's no doubt in my mind that Angel Dust is their masterpiece.

Faith No More's first two booze-soaked albums with Chuck Mosely are a lot of fun, but when Mike Patton came on board for their third album, The Real Thing, it cemented the band's definitive line-up that would release their most noteworthy material. The Real Thing was still very much a transitional album however, with Patton still coming into his own as a vocalist and not seeming entirely comfortable in the band just yet. Upon hearing Angel Dust it immediately becomes clear that Patton has finally made himself at home here. Not to discount the contributions of the other band members, but this was such a bold new direction for them, Patton's influential fingerprints can be found all over it.

This is a really complex, experimental album, and not as accessible as their earlier material, so it may take a few listens for you to fully appreciate everything that's going on here, but believe me, once you do, you'll recognize it as nothing short of amazing. Patton really begins to stretch his vocal muscles here and learn what he's capable of, and while it's nothing compared to some of his later work, this is really where he started experimenting with his voice.

Some of the more bizarre stand-out tracks are "RV", with its waltzy, piano tune, where Patton speaks most of the vocals in the character of a trailer-trash redneck and they keyboard-driven "Be Aggressive", with its cheerleader chorus and homoerotic lyrics by openly gay band member Roddy Bottum who wrote them with the sole purpose of trying to embarrass Patton who would have to sing them on stage. Of course, every track on the album is a masterpiece in its own right, and discussing each of them here would be a waste of time when you should be getting your hands on a copy of this album and hearing it for yourself. If you're not a fan of Faith No More, you will be after hearing this.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)