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Faith No More - Sol Invictus review



Reviewer:
6.8

180 users:
7.52
Band: Faith No More
Album: Sol Invictus
Style: Alternative metal
Release date: May 18, 2015
A review by: BitterCOld


01. Sol Invictus
02. Superhero
03. Sunny Side Up
04. Separation Anxiety
05. Cone Of Shame
06. Rise Of The Fall
07. Black Friday
08. Motherfucker
09. Matador
10. From The Dead

Faith No More are back "From The Dead" with Sol Invictus, their first new release in 18 years. Sooooo is SI "Epic"? Maybe Album Of The Year? Or are you concerned "Everything's Ruined"? When it comes to Faith No More, well, for many of us, "We Care A Lot."

News of their re-launch seemingly came from "Out Of Nowhere", and it wasn't just idle speculation, it was "The Real Thing." Folks were undoubtedly "Naked In Front Of The Computer" (insert "The Real Thing" jokes here) upon hearing the rumors, but, as someone well versed in the "Gentle Art Of Making Enemies", I must sadly admit their return is pretty "Ugly In The Morning."

So why am I using so many past song/album titles in my description of their latest opus?

Because, well, each time I spin this, I'd rather be listening to their back catalog instead.

The band is still the band, Mike Patton still is a fantastic front man - he's got a great voice, great range, and takes on all sorts of vocal approaches? but it seems the band has been through some "Midlife Crisis".

Everything just feels a bit muted. The songs are ok, but just lack the energy, excitement of The Real Thing, or the willingness to go balls to the wall and experiment like they did at times with Angel Dust and the perhaps more refined King For A Day. It would have been a lot better if they opted to "Be Aggressive" and mix in a few more madcap tracks to break it up.

Sure, "Separation Anxiety" and "Cone Of Shame" ramp it up a bit in the middle of the track, after some build up, but as a whole it just falls flat. There are ok songs and good songs, but outside the fun chorus of "Motherfucker" the album just doesn't excite me.

So yeah, sorry I'm not terribly descriptive on this, it's just an album that didn't inspire me terribly much one way or another. It didn't leave much of an impact after the first listen, nor has it particularly grown after subsequent listens. Frankly, when Sol Invictus closes out, with their past releases a click away, my desire to listen to this again gets "Smaller And Smaller" each time through.

Then again, but what do I know? After all, I'm "Just A Man."


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 6
Production: 8





Written on 04.05.2015 by BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009.


Comments page 2 / 2

Comments: 38   Visited by: 354 users
05.05.2015 - 15:56
Rating: 6
Karlabos
Written by Netzach on 05.05.2015 at 12:35

Review is entertaining but damnit if the comments aren't a cut above it

Grab your popcorn and enjoy
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"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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06.05.2015 - 07:26
afu
I don't worship at the altar of Faith No More, but I respect them. Considering the pull of at least three strong personalities and ego in that band, it's a wonder they can release anything coherent that doesn't have a "fuck you" embedded in it somewhere about another member. They are totally schizo. Since bass and keys are the dominant backing instrumentation, it isn't a surprise that it might be muted by comparison to their golden age, when they were big enough assholes to bury Jim Martin in the Angel Dust mixes of a lot of songs in favor of A Flock Of Seagulls keyboards being dosed with LSD and hashish. The review is on a "Metal" site. They use some of the established, general forms and motifs that are associated with writing Metal, but are largely more Alternative and may not be received as warmly by any person who prefers their music to be loud and pounding.
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08.05.2015 - 02:13
bloodface
Written by BitterCOld on 05.05.2015 at 01:37

Written by matia on 04.05.2015 at 21:10

This is NOT a review, merely a biased opinion of someone immature enough who listened to an album no more than 10 times, and these were possibly with skips. Grow up if u wanna write a review that helps people to form an opinion and give them incentive to give it a listen.

this is indeed a review. it conveys the feelings and response the album evoked in me. that is, for the most part, exactly why music is important to people. you listen to "War Ensemble" by Slayer and you want to start air punching things, you listen to "Old Shep" by Elvis and you fight back the urge to shed a tear, you listen to "Life On Mars" by David Bowie and you wish you were transported to the 70s and were a police officer in Manchester.

i did listen to this album about ten times, over the span of two weeks and change. six or seven times straight through, others starting where i left off or revisiting songs. i did this at home by day, by night, and while walking around town on my headphones. i had ample time to let the new factor wear off, or for other tracks to grow on me.

by virtue of listening to it that may times over that many circumstances and settings, i can guarantee you I've given it more listens and more time than the bulk of "pro" reviewers give their albums.

i believe my review is adequate to give people an idea of how it impacted me and what to expect. it is NOT my job to give incentive to listen to an album. not at all. it's my job to give my impressions of an album. as if anyone is going to let my review stop them from checking this out anyhow. FNM are big enough where people will give it a spin whether i score this a 3, a 6, or a 9.

i can respect MikeyJames above who came to a different conclusion than me. he adequately explains to me why the album clicked with him. that's great.

all you did was get your spiked panties in a knot because apparently you like the album far more than i do.

frankly, your comment , and subsequently your opinion, does not merit the attention it has received as it is nothing short of sand-in-the-clit whining devoid of any actual valid criticism or counterpoints to indicate what was good about the album.

i score your one take thusly:

performance: 7 - a bit choppy, and i simply cannot stand people who use "u". at least largely devoid of bad english language trainwrecks, so you have that going for you.
originality: 0 - go visit my Avenged Sevenfold review, you'll see about 15 people posted pretty much the same argument. my recent KOK review got a few more. and that's just me. offhand.
construction: 1 - you really need to brush up on your verbal skills and drop something original on us if you are going to review reviews. most of us who review around here a somewhat competent at expressing ourselves verbally. you might want to spend some time with a dictionary and thesaurus before trying to start a keyboard fight.

overall: 2 - boring. nothing new, nothing of merit, and absolutely zero re-read value.

nauseating...annoying...pretentious...petty....overkill....defensive.....easily bated.

is this a good spot to name drop miles davis?
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08.05.2015 - 05:45
Rating: 6
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Admin
Written by bloodface on 08.05.2015 at 02:13


nauseating...annoying...pretentious...petty....overkill....defensive.....easily bated.

is this a good spot to name drop miles davis?

Depends. If Kind Of Blue, sure. "Blue In Green" is pretty much as close to musical perfection as I've heard.
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get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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08.05.2015 - 06:57
bloodface
Quote:
Depends. If Kind Of Blue, sure. "Blue In Green" is pretty much as close to musical perfection as I've heard.

great response (serious)
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08.05.2015 - 18:36
Lethrokai
Written by deadone on 08.05.2015 at 09:43

The album is surprisingly better than what I expected especially after the dismal Motherfucker single.

I actually really enjoyed that single; thought it was a great build-up track.

That being said, I'm generally of the same opinion. This is album isn't really anything too special, but it's a good bit of enjoyable listening overall. I just happen to feel that way about most FNM albums anyway though.
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Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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11.05.2015 - 15:58
jupitreas
hi-fi / lo-life
Staff
The review is well aligned with my own impression of this album. Song by song, "Sol Invictus" pales in comparison to FNM's classic discography. Basically, Tomahawk had better FNM albums than this one by the real band...
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17.05.2015 - 06:38
Introspekrieg
Totemic Lust
Elite
Great review, lowered my expectations which ultimately led to me enjoying the album much more. Superhero and Separation Anxiety might be some of my favorite FNM songs now and the album's length makes for easy repeated digestion. I find it hard to not enjoy Patton in any form...
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