For a long, long, entirely too long time I just dismissed Faith No More as a novelty act based solely on "Epic". Was it unfair? At the time, no. It was the only song of there's that gets any airplay with a bone thrown to "We Care a Lot". But then I heard "Land of Sunshine" and then, that's when I realize that I was being unfair and I vow to rectify this situation by buying Angel Dust ASAP.
This album is where Mike Patton, the lead singer, starts exert his influence since on their previous album, The Real Thing, he just joined when the album was already composed and he just put in lyrics. So on this, the band wasn't going to chase the shocking pop success of "Epic" and there's a lot of genre-busting here, from the country-fried "RV" to the mocking and harsh "Land of Sunshine". The only sound that even sounds close to "Epic" is "Midlife Crisis" and even then when you squint and turn your head at the right angle.
The real draw is Mike Patton's voice and how it varied his vocal style is. There's an operatic grandeur to it as he sings. There's a giddy joy in not knowing what's going to happen next on the next song. He can be quiet, he can be boisterous, he can be mocking, he can be a redneck and he can even be a convincing Late-Nite TV salesman. Just listening to him is a wonder.
If there's any disappointment to the record, it still somewhat plays it safe in the harder songs. Not to say those songs are bad, they're just not as memorable as something like "RV", "Land of Sunshine" or "Everything's Ruined" where they do something completely different or give new spins and dimensions to previous standards. I really do like this album and it shows that Faith No More was more than just some one-hit wonder that just got lucky.
8/10
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