Faith No More - Angel Dust

This was my favorite album for many years. While I had enjoyed Faith No More's third album, The Real Thing, it wasn't until Angel Dust arrived in 1992 that I put all of my musical faith into Faith No More. Angel Dust changed everything for me musically; it opened my eyes to genre combinations I couldn't have imagined until I heard them here. I give Mike Patton a lot of credit, as this was the first Faith No More album on which he was able to contribute as a songwriter. On The Real Thing Patton was something of a hired gun, just a singer singing songs someone else had already arranged. In just three years between albums, Mike Patton returned to his former band, Mr. Bungle, and cut a new album with them, before taking what he had learned and lending it to Angel Dust. Experimentation became the norm. Samples held together the structure. Nothing was sacred. No one was safe.

Incorporating everything from metal and classical, Angel Dust sounds like nothing else, before its release or since. Perhaps that's why Kerrang! magazine named Angel Dust "the #1 Most Influential Album of All Time". How big of an honor is that? Let's put it this way: Nirvana's Nevermind was listed #2, followed closely by Black Sabbath and Metallica. That's good company to keep and even better company to beat. So, what is it about this album that muscles all the masters of metal into submission? Originality in the form of 100% unbridled, beautiful ugliness. If that description seems at all strange or exaggerated, just take a look at the front and back cover art (see above). The front is beautiful. The back is ugly. The front is polished. The back is raw. The front is majestic. The back is morbid. That is the promise, and Angel Dust delivers. Faith No More twists and turns conventional music to make something that isn't just improved, it's entirely new. Angel Dust is the gun in the knife fight, and it's aimed right at the gut.

When the banging first begins on "Land of Sunshine", you're immediately aware that something has gone awry. This isn't the Faith No More of before, and this band isn't aiming to please, they're aiming to kill. Direct hit. After hit. After hit. A number of tracks became singles, and those that didn't became fan favorites. Whether it was played on Top 40 radio or exchanged on mixtapes, every song was something worthy of extended exploration. While "Midlife Crisis" pits a Simon and Garfunkel sample in the verse against a Beastie Boys sample in the bridge, "Everything's Ruined", songs like "RV" explored entirely different avenues from seemingly distant planets. Take the tour - you'll be happy you did.

Highlights: "Everything's Ruined" and "A Small Victory" ("Jizzlobber" for the brave)