Sol Invictus review

This is almost the first Sol Invictus review proper we have seen. Food and music site Rice and Bread have published a round-table discussion of the new album. The conversation is a little circuitous but there are some good observations. Here are some:

Gregg Pratt: This album was pretty much exactly what I thought it was going to sound like, but that was a bit disappointing for me, in a way. So it sounds awesome, but it’s maybe a bit too predictable, and not enough King for a Day and too much Album of the Year or something.

Kevin Wood: My theory on this album overall is “it’s a grower, not a shower,” because on first listen I wasn’t overly impressed, but as I’ve gone through it more it’s definitely growing on me. But I also think that other than pre-Angel Dust, it sounds like a collaboration of all three of those later albums, so Angel Dust, King for a Day and Album of the Year. I’m picking up that vibe. There are some hits on here for sure, but also some uninspiring songs as well.

Jason Schreurs: The more you listen to it, the better it gets. My worry was that Mike Patton, well, he’s not getting any younger and he’s done a lot of crazy, crazy stuff over the years, so I was a bit worried that his vocal performance wouldn’t be up to snuff, but his vocals on this album are probably some of the best he’s ever done.

Kevin Wood: This new album gives me a feel of almost an anthology of the records before it, even though they are new songs. There’s so much of each of their records in here, whereas the other ones were so much defined by their own sound. A couple of standout tracks for me here were “Sunny Side Up,” which is a bit silly lyrically, but it’s a really interesting sound. On every Faith No More album teird)here’s always that one song that’s just a little extra odd. And on this one, it’s that track. So that really stood out for me.

(via Faith No More Followers and Bungle Weird)

Kerrang! cover to be published

Faith No More’s 14th cover of Kerrang! will be published in the UK on 15 April. It is also available digitally here. We’ll update tomorrow on the content.

Quietus King for a Day…feature

As if you need another reason to read The Quietus but one of the best music sites around has just published an in-depth look at Faith No More’s King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime album. Here’s a snippet: “The album we’re concerned with is a stranger, more eclectic beast, taking in the usual metal, pop and twisted funk, while consciously adding lounge, jazz, bossa nova, big band funk, soul, gospel and country and western into a deathly boiling pot. It’s certainly the most adventurous and envelope-pushing of all the Faith No More records, and while it might have been a disappointment to London Records netting a not-really-to-be-sniffed-at £1.5 million, it’s the most fun to listen to for the wealth of ideas alone. Faith No More were always at their best when they were subversive (and that includes subverting themselves) and so it proves.”