ALBUM RECOMMENDATIONS |

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The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Faith No More

[#] Angel Dust (1992)

Reviewed August 13, 2018

Alt metal? Art metal.

The most striking thing about Angel Dust is just how artsy it is. Faith No More really had no peers when it came to mixing rap-rock machismo with strings and semen (more on that later). Were Rage Against the Machine playing with samples and songs about sleep deprivation? No, but Faith No More do plenty of that on Angel Dust. And that's just the second track! Albums with this much personality don't come often, so listen up: what you'll get if you take the plunge is a record peered with Superunknown in innovative 90s hard rock. Between the strings and Mike Patton's bark, the album's grandiosity often works thanks to the bullseye songwriting on display.

Even more notable than the music are the absurdist lyrics that key in on the essence of shitty Springfield living. "Land of Sunshine" marries Scientology and a funky bassline. "RV" is a bitter white trash monologue (though maybe a melody would work better, lads). "Midlife Crisis" mocks Madonna, "Everything's Ruined" eeriely laments greed, and "Be Aggressive" is a cheerleading routine about swallowing. Class act. The band's not out to sneer, though, generally. I mean, look at "Crack Hitler". They liked that dealer so much, they dedicated the James Bond theme to him! Angel Dust rewards repeat listens, but even just one's enough to get off the most stalwart stevedore.

(As requested back in 2018 by yoshi, who's still around and was briefly on our hosting. Godspeed, my friend.)