New Faith No More album: Sol Invictus

[OldKen]

Official "first listen" on NPR.

Kind of a mix of all of their different sounds.

Kinda simple. Kinda odd.

Very Faith no More.

If you were ever a fan, check it out 9 days early!

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/10/404672919/first-listen-faith-no-more-sol-invictus

 

[Laspector]

I remember that one song 'Epic' with the fish flopping around and that's about it.

 

[OldKen]

That was one of their only POP single releases.

You probably only heard one silverchair song too...

They made some great non-sheeple tracks too...

Modern POP music is HORRIBLE. The rock, the heavy stuff, the rap, the country, the bubblegum...

I guess I'm getting old at 38... So that opinion is "par for the course" I reckon!

But I'll be damned if 1 direction can compare to the Beatles. Or nickelback or Godsmack campare with Zepplin!

Faith No More never fit the MTV ideal, on PURPOSE. And it was AWESOME.

Each to there own!

Someone here may remember more than Bjorks poor goldfish!

 

[Laspector]

No need to get upset, I never said anything bad about the band. I really liked Epic and had it on a mix tape. It was just the only song on the album I really cared for.

By the way, I am 50 years old and have been listening to great music since before you were born. I've hung out with great musicians all my life and still have a collection of over 2000 CDs, and another 2 terabytes of music on external hard drives. I've heard more obscure bands than you can imagine, so please don't preach to me about great music.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm actually agreeing with most of what you say--there is a LOT of garbage being produced these days. But it has always been that way. Take any year since recordings first started, pull up every song released that year and you will always find a lot of crap in addition to the great stuff. So it is not just modern music that only produces crap. There is plenty of good modern music out there, you just have to find it.

One thing I have learned as I got older was that you don't have to take sides. When I was younger I was a Heavy Metal Mother ***** Monster. It was all I cared about. Back then it was my opinion that if it wasn't metal it sucked. Life mellowed me a lot. Now I can listen to pretty much anything and enjoy it (except maybe rap). I can listen to Metallica one minute and throw on some John Denver the next minute. I can enjoy Deep Purple and even maybe even Miley Cyrus in one sitting. Hell, I can enjoy Death Metal and Gospel music at the same time.

One just has to open up and realize that just because there is something you don't like, that does not in itself make it bad. As you said "Each to their own".

 

[blakeh1]

"Angel Dust" was an awesome album. In many ways I liked it better than "The Real Thing" despite the latter being more popular.

Although I still like the stuff they did with Chuck Mosley. Chinese Arithmetic has got to be one of my favorite songs.

For some reason though the later albums after Angel Dust just didn't quite do it for me. There were moments, but overall, I think after the guitar player Jim Martin left, they lost a key part of their style that just didn't get replaced.

I've seen them live during both the Chuck Mosley era and the Mike Patton era and have been looking forward to a new album and tour from them.

Mike Patton has had some interesting side projects like Fantamos and Tomahawk, but none of them quite up to Faith No More's level

 

[JD]

I saw Faith No More last Friday and they still put on a solid show - this was my third FNM show after seeing them in a club in 1990 and opening the Metallica/GnR tour (I left 3 songs into the GnR set). To be honest, part of me is a little disappointed that they've become more a Mike Patton project than they band I loved. Patton's voice is still amazingly solid and sounds much, much better live than clips I've seen on YouTube (I think it needs to be listened to LOUD, otherwise his vocals overpower the mix) - the rest of the band is spot on as well... except well, the guitar. Jon Hudson is a solid guitar player but he lacks character in both his playing and stage presence (um, in other words: JIM MARTIN needs to be in this band).

Sol Invictus is a good album - but it doesn't seem like a FNM album to me. There are some tunes that really try and capture some of the FNM magic (Superhero, Cone of Shame and MF)... but a lot of it just seems to be OD on Mike Patton and it might help to restrain that in but a bit (he's got too many other projects to showcase that). I'm still listening and learning this album, I'm sure more of it will grow on me... but, my initial feeling is a bit of disappointment (but, man Superhero gets the blood pumping).

On the topic of pop music - well, I'm not that audience and I'm not going to judge folks for liking what they like. I love being eclectic and zipping through FNM, Metallica, Gojira, Royale and Taylor Swift without blinking.

 

[cayman shen]

FNM is solidly in my top five fave bands. Angel Dust is one of the best albums ever, IMO. Looking forward to checking out their new material! (Not sure why I haven't already--I don't get as ravenously excited about new music as I did back in the day I guess haha).

 

[JD]

Don't miss them on The Tonight Show tonight.

 

[Monkey67]

Faith no more is a great band.

lmao Bjork's goldfish. Almost forgot about that story with the fish. I dig Bjork and her craziness.

 

[blakeh1]

To be honest, part of me is a little disappointed that they've become more a Mike Patton project than they band I loved. Patton's voice is still amazingly solid and sounds much, much better live than clips I've seen on YouTube (I think it needs to be listened to LOUD, otherwise his vocals overpower the mix) - the rest of the band is spot on as well... except well, the guitar. Jon Hudson is a solid guitar player but he lacks character in both his playing and stage presence (um, in other words: JIM MARTIN needs to be in this band).

Sol Invictus is a good album - but it doesn't seem like a FNM album to me. There are some tunes that really try and capture some of the FNM magic (Superhero, Cone of Shame and MF)... but a lot of it just seems to be OD on Mike Patton and it might help to restrain that in but a bit (he's got too many other projects to showcase that). I'm still listening and learning this album, I'm sure more of it will grow on me... but, my initial feeling is a bit of disappointment (but, man Superhero gets the blood pumping).

I'm at work so I haven;t had a chance to listen yet, but that was my concern. I was hoping it sounded more like Faith No More than the Mike Patton side projects. And yes, Jim Martin is noticeably missed in music after Angel Dust.

 

[cayman shen]

But hey. he's growing really big pumpkins, so that's cool too

 

[JD]

But hey. he's growing really big pumpkins, so that's cool too

He also played shows with Infectious Grooves - I caught Infectious with Big Jim playing a couple years ago the Orion Festival - it was great. Funnily, the act after IG was Tomahawk.

 

[JD]

Happy Sol Invictus day! The first Faith No More album in 17 years is out...

The band has posted a coupon good for $2 if you buy the album at Best Buy (which brings the price down to $7.99).

 

[cayman shen]

Listening to the NPR preview posted above (finally!) and I'm digging it. Glad to hear Billy Gould is still making that bass chug so deliciously.

EDIT: Okay, after a listen, I'm gonna say this new material can stand toe to toe with their best. Like they never went away. So much interesting stuff going on, they make other bands feel...obvious.

Between this and Mad Max, it's definitely a week for the old fellas taking us to school.

 

[Chaank]

I'm keen for this. I still haven't heard a single track off it yet. I'm sure it'll take a few spins to sink in. I hope anyway, you shouldn't be able to get FNM straight away.

 

[OldKen]

It's awesome.

If your a real fan...

You'll like it and say "well it's very Faith No More" on the first listen.

But it isn't an abrupt change like angel dust or King for a day... It's more of an amalgamation of EVERYTHING they've done... There's even hints towards pre Patton stuff... But it also takes it a step further...

It's soo hard to recreate the same vibe energy and feel of ANY kind of art after 20 years... And even if you do you then you get judged for not doing anything new!!!

Sol Invictus manages to do both!

If Star Wars ep7 has half of the old school feel that FNM captured of their original stuff...
I'd say I'll cry my eyes out during the first viewing!!!

I'm keen for this. I still haven't heard a single track off it yet. I'm sure it'll take a few spins to sink in. I hope anyway, you shouldn't be able to get FNM straight away.

 

[JD]

OldKen - wow, I thought I was the only one that felt I heard some pre-Patton FNM on Sol Invictus.

I just wish I was in love with the album the same way you are - it is growing on me; but, I think too much of it sounds like Mike Patton project more than a Faith No More album.... still, it gets better with every listen.

 

[OldKen]

Think of how much his voice changed and moved towards his sound in other projects from the real thing till angeldust... It was a WAY bigger vocal style change...

He was going that way. Learning to harness his scream, beatbox, operatic stylings... Just take his craft as far as possible.

He created projects to simply showcase his bag of tricks... But they weren't popular (kinda like GL and the PT LOL!!?)

He grew. He didn't make these changes because of a manager... He IS the manager and owner of his label.

He is who he is.

Awesome.

If you think he's bringing in too much of his odd side projects... Listen to adult themes for voice!!! I only could make it through a little of it.

Fantomas is very interesting. And hey Dave Lambardo!

But I really don't think you can compare his vocals from that to the new FNM!

 

[JD]

I just think that it might be too much. FNM is an amazing band and it should be a band - not just a Mike Patton project. I don't want FNM to sound like Peeping Tom or Tomahawk (which I think it Sol Invictus might be a little too close to at times). I love the range and variety... I just don't want it to overpower. It's a delicate balance... and like I said, this new album is growing on me, so it's probably just a matter of time until it fits right in for me.

LOL, I remember searching for a copy of Adult Themes for Voice when it came out a million years ago - I still have no idea what that was all about. :lol

 

[Chaank]

I'd never want to hear another Angle dust, any good band or any artist for that matter moves forward. By the sounds of the comments here that's what has happened. I'm really keen to check it out. Cheers for the reviews chaps! It's looking good.

Another quick thought - Everything's ruined was my top track from AD. The bass and lyrics kicked my a%*