I used to have faith in the heavy music scene.
But, nowadays, for every Queens of the Stone Age, there are ten more Papa Roaches. All these rap-metal suckers give props to Faith No More, but none of them can rock with the intensity or guts that made Mike Patton and company such influential artists.
As much as these wanna-be's scream and jump around, none have the voice or panache that compromises Patton.
I guess I just have an odd respect for someone who can sing Billy Squier's "The Stroke," as a heavy metal song while dressed in a "gimp" outfit.
Currently, Patton is working on numerous projects with his label, Ipecac Records. These bands are non-conformist in nature and not straightforward rock as Faith No More.
Not that I wouldn't recommend the multi-genre bending, hyperactivity of Mr. Bungle, or the interesting solo albums that Patton made using only his voice, or the spooky sound effects craze of Fantomas, or even his newest band, the highly talented Tomahawk. But, any of these projects may scare a new listener.
Faith No More's swan song, Album of the Year, rocks hard and touches the abstract enough that if the listener loves it, other Patton releases will find a way into the CD player.
The other week I popped the disc in my player, and it swept me back to eleventh grade, head banging and screaming at the top of my lungs while driving home from school.
"Collision" opens Album of the Year with the force of a sucker punch.
It's a welcome frustration release, Patton hoots and hollers through a ragged guitar and bass match-up.
The next track, "Stripsearch" highlights Roddy Bottum's keyboards and Patton's ability to sing falsetto. The track starts out upbeat but a shift in mood leads the music to a darker place, with muted power chords crunching and keyboard strings hitting dissonant notes.
It's a great musical moment, and shows the immense talent of the band to cross-genres, while still remaining metal.
The cd's highpoint comes during the contemplative "Helpless." A simple acoustic start builds a tension until it culminates into overlapping Patton vocals.
The technique reveals the emotion in the track. While the song is heavy, the band has the ability to utilize melody, and capture a beautiful recording that is both intense and pretty. What other group uses whistling in a song you can mosh to?
But as any fan will tell you, what made the band was Patton. His rapid-fire delivery intermixed with his sweet singing is unbelievable throughout the disc.
It puts him up as a contender for rock's most influential vocalist.
In the mid-eastern flavored "Mouth to Mouth," Patton can yell with a full throat and grunts with a forceful ease. In an oddity such as "She Loves Me Not," Patton sings in a Broadway style, and in the single "Ashes to Ashes" he is not afraid to sing in an operatic howl.
The last couple of the tracks foreshadow the bitter end of the band.
Slower rhythms and droning chords bog down the epic-sounding "Paths of Glory."
Inspired by the Stanley Kubrick film of the same name, the track, from a first-person perspective, questions the motives and future of an individual ... could it possibly Patton ruminating about the impending break-up?
Either that or Patton was hinting that he had bigger things on his agenda, like trying to dismantle the form and structure of what heavy metal was and should be.
Thankfully, he is still at his task.
