"Angel Dust" is a nickname for the drug "penicillamine", the hallucinogenic drug that causes a feeling of detachment from the environment and insensitivity to pain that is dangerous and forbidden to use, which makes writing on this album one big trip for us.
There are albums that we approach with "reverence" both because they have a very big impact on us and also given the impact they have on the music in general, Faith No More's "Angel Dust" released on June 8, 1992, is one of those albums.
Just a quick glance at the cover, which on the one hand shows a white Haikarat and on the other hand a picture of a production line in a meat factory, already makes us shiver.
So as we hinted, this album has a huge impact on us, the change of style between the songs throws you into places you did not expect, and the sound of the guitars and drums is so special that you feel every note in your veins, while Mike's lyrics and voice make you shiver all over.
Although "The Real Thing" marked the beginning of the band's journey with Mike Patton, where he wrote the lyrics to the music the band had written in advance, on this album he was already a full partner in writing the music and lyrics. Already in "The Real Thing" we heard the diversity in the styles and characters of the songs that throw you from side to side, but the album was a little lighter. This album continues the line that started with "The Real Thing" but with more maturity and depth. In one of the special shows done on 88FM station about Mike Patton, Kuame said a true say: "Faith No More is the restrained version of Mr. Bungle, Mike's first band from high school", where the pieces are much more disturbing and unbridled.
(Photo: Mick Hutson)
So with Kuame's permission, we change the phrase a bit and call the collection of songs on this album "Restrained Disturbance"...
It opens with the song "Land of Sunshine" as the rhythm section (our favorite) leads you through the clouds into the land of the sun with the words "Sing and Rejoice…" Do you think to yourself Does life seem worthwhile when you are allowed to order yourself a new life? Words Mike wrote from fortune cookie texts and an acceptance question for the Church of Scientology.
From there we move on with the howls of wolves to one of the craziest songs (for us) on this album - "Caffeine", with rhythms that turn you on, shake you, and drive you crazy, from noise up to noise down like mixing beer and espresso !! Mike whispers and Mike Bordin's snare cause your teeth to knock out of control. One of the great hymns that throw you in the air and land you powerfully on the ground.
You have not yet recovered and you already find yourself in a "Mid-life crisis", and you are not even approaching the age of 40 yet. You just do not understand how to digest what you just heard. Again Mike Bourdain and Billy Gold make your limbs move uncontrollably and your body and mind surrender to Mike's voice, informing you that you're in a midlife crisis, and you are already surrendering without any thought or argument... Patton said the song does not talk about his midlife crisis, Because he did not know how such a crisis should feel. He noted that Madonna was the one who influenced the lyrics. At the time he saw her everywhere, on TV, on billboards, and in magazines and she always seemed bothered as if something was happening to her... Believe it or not, but this song includes quotes from the song "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel and the song "Car Thief" by the Beastie Boys, Which makes it even more iconic than it is.
After one of the greatest singles in modern rock history, "RV" takes you to a little dance in the big ballroom with a light break so you have the strength to contain what happens next. The song develops to a higher intensity in its final third so that you will not forget where you are but ends with a pleasant caress.
"Smaller and Smaller..." Maybe that's why it rarely played in the band's shows. This song takes you and develops with you through Mike's voice and Jim's guitar with a combination of Native American rituals, absurd as it may sound, it's just that.
Then "Everything's Ruined", this whole story is completely ruined and you're already ruined on this album when you're only halfway through it. One of the greatest if not the greatest songs on the album that takes you through an apocalyptic story about a slave industry that is focused on doing the work of the ruler and raising a tyrant born to rule all this "good".
"Malpractice" is exactly what describes this song that puts you in a blender with some yogurt, ice, and nails and makes you a smoothie, without you asking, and you happily drink it do not want it to end but then the next song begins.
The song "Kindergarten" reopens with Jim's guitar, which surprisingly is his latest album with the band. Is the first of only two songs for which he received writing credit. No doubt this feels his string claim here and it's an excellent song.
In the song "Be Aggressive" Mike Patton sings to the lyrics written by the band's keyboardist Roddy Bottum, without any involvement from Mike. The song is about S&M, "oral sex between two men," a gay relationship, and at the time of writing, Rudy said he enjoyed the thought of Mike performing on stage and directing such a song. Rudy of course came "out of the closet" later, which would explain the effect on the lyrics.
"A Small Victory" This album is (not a small victory), it is a huge victory over the genre's claimers, the songwriters, and the music in general. Breaking boundaries is almost inconceivable. What goes on in this song (which is by the way the second single that came out of the album), with all the crazy samples that accompany it, and the whole album, cost the record company and the company management a lot of pressure and money.
"Crack Hitler" recounts the next song, the guitar opens the song with a simple announcement at the airport and you fly with it on and on.
You try to relax a bit with the sounds of water, crickets, and frogs in the opening of "Jizzlobber" but then the piano and guitar put you in a dramatic and terrifying scene (Jim's second song), just like Mike Patton's fear of going to jail, he says. He knows it will happen someday because he has already been, but he knows that next time it will be for a much longer time.
And after all that, after all, you've been through... all the ups and downs, thrills, and shocks they decide to give you a pleasant and optimistic ending with two covers, "Midnight Cowboy" and "Easy", the latter did not appear in the regular album version but it will become eventually one of the band's hallmarks in certain audiences, and even its most successful and heard the song in several countries around the world.
For us, this "eternal" album, hovers over time, is always with us, and accompanies us even before we dream of the mid-life crisis and after it. It is a masterpiece that makes us fall in love with it over and over again. We went a little wild this time but that's really what this album makes us feel.
And now take a break from life, play, and enter another world Spotify, Apple Music