Greece

We don’t live in an anglophone world so here’s a round-up of Faith No More reviews and news in all languages.

Sludgelord waxes lyrical

But we will start in English. The Sludgelord site has give the album a well-written and overwhelmingly positive review. Here are some extracts but the piece is well worth a good read in its entirety.

“‘Sol Invictus’ is an album that only Faith No More could have produced. Unique and flavoursome, it bastardises and mutilates a plethora of styles and moods, moulding them to the shape of their own distinct musical mantra.”

“As a collective they are forever unpredictable. They slap you in the face when you expected a kick in the balls, they’ll drop a punchline just as anger bubbles uncontrollably out of your throat.”

“What’s most impressive about ‘Sol Invictus’ is how the band are able to resonate every mood, style and aesthetic that makes up this most complex of mosaic sounds without every letting the momentum slip.”

“You could sit and list every element of spectacle about this album, every moment that grips you vice-like – such is the attention to detail here. But all you really need to know is this: ‘Sol Invictus’ sounds like Faith No More and no one else. “

Russian rave review

Russian Rolling Stone has already given the record full marks and another Russian site Musical Express has given an equally positive review. They say in Google-translated English:

“Sol Invictus is an amazing record. Actually Sol Invictus is a gift in the first place because, strictly speaking, there is no difference between it and the FNM’s old work – in the best sense. On the album, framed at the edges by two gloomy, but not particularly heavy tracks, there is all that the FNM love and that intelligent fans of the underground love: Patton hitting booming choruses, complex composition and a dense meaty sound. The best Track – the 6-minute monster Matador – is all Faith No More at it’s best, where insinuating deceptive introduction suddenly explodes through a powerful bass, drums, guitar cannonade, symphonic keyboards and the reincarnation of the Mad Mike’s Mephistopheles and back.”

Spain and Greece reviews

It says a lot about the high praise the album has been receiving that a 7.5/10 and two 8/10 reviews come as a surprise. Only 7.5? Spanish culture site Hipersonica states from the outset that the album is pure Faith No More and argues that while it does not have the diversity of previous albums such as King for a Day.. or the funky rage of Angel Dust it shares more in common with the latter. The review adds:

” There is an almost total absence of proper singles, but every song ends establishing a strong bond with its predecessor and the one that follows, giving the feeling of being in a disc that stands more as a whole more than its separate parts.”

Of Matador, the reviewer states:

“And every return to that song becomes more dramatic, more full of magic and completely overwhelming.”

Meanwhile, Greece’s RockHard – not to be confused with France’s RockHard below – gives a 7.5/10 and a 8/10 review.

Rock Hard CD featuring Superhero

I haven’t tracked down the new issue of New Noise with Faith No More on the cover but I did get my hands on Rock Hard which has Superhero on its cover-mount CD.
The magazine will also feature an interview with the band in its next issue. The album has also found its way to the magazine’s reviewers, featuring highly in some individual playlists.

Visions magazine cover

(via FNM Followers)
German magazine Visions features that now almost ubiquitous band plus cats image as their latest cover. And the magazine features interviews with Bill Gould and Mike Patton.
You can actually read the full magazine  – in German – in minute form here.