Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~77 minutes
Release: 10 March 2025
Chris arrives still recovering from a week-long illness that wiped him out completely, Neil had hated Angel Dust for 30 years until preparing for this episode, and both hosts end up blown away by an album that nobody quite knows how to categorize. This is Faith No More at their most defiant, Mike Patton fully integrated into the songwriting process, Jim Martin barely involved and eventually departing, and a record label executive calling it career suicide while the band just got on with making stuff with their mates.
Released in June 1992 into a year absolutely packed with heavy music, Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction, Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, Rage Against the Machine's debut, Alice in Chains' Dirt, Angel Dust sold 2.5 million copies worldwide by being absolutely nothing like any of them. The Real Thing had been riffy and metal driven with Jim Martin's guitar work dominating, this was Mike Patton's avant garde mishmash, post alt rock, synth heavy, bass driven, genre defying paint splatter on a canvas with Easy as the Commodores cover nobody saw coming.
Midlife Crisis became the defining single underpinned by bass guitar work creating space for texture, Everything's Ruined as Neil's standout that he could put on repeat endlessly, Land of Sunshine kicking in with big thick heavy guitars despite album being less guitar driven overall, Easy cover recorded for something else becoming so popular it got added to UK represses in 1993 though original 1992 versions didn't have it. Album credited entirely to Patton for writing showing his dominance over direction, polished yet edgy production from Matt Wallace using Mesa Boogie amps when big metal used Marshalls, tracks could be reordered without losing coherence because songs unique and original not requiring album flow, no path at all completely aimless as Mike described it. Avant garde metal and alternative metal genre tags missing the mark, more post alt rock with synths and bass taking sonic space guitars occupied on The Real Thing, bizarro masterpiece per Rolling Stone ranking 65th in 100 greatest metal albums despite not really being metal, influenced Dillinger Escape Plan who cited Faith No More as teaching confidence to make extreme chaotic stuff without commercial concerns.
Angel Dust captures the exact moment a band chose artistic integrity over commercial safety, record label screaming career suicide while band made exactly what they wanted to make surrounded by 1992's unprecedented heavy music year. Lost Jim Martin but gained Mike Patton's full creative voice, influenced generation of experimental metal bands by proving genre boundaries exist to be ignored, taught Dillinger Escape Plan and countless others that mates making stuff in a room matters more than fitting commercial expectations. Album's 2.5 million sales proved accessible doesn't require conventional when songwriting serves vision, Easy becoming massive hit despite or because of being Commodores cover on experimental metal album nobody could categorize. San Francisco Bay Area eclectic scene made this mishmash inevitable, same environment producing punk and Bob Marley side by side created band comfortable splashing paint on canvas seeing where it lands, Matt Wallace's polished yet edgy production threading needle between accessible and challenging. Rolling Stone's bizarro masterpiece designation perfect, beautiful name for hideous drug Roddy Bottom explanation capturing duality, album you can reorder without losing coherence because each song stands alone as unique original statement refusing neat categorization.
Perfect for: Listeners who believe best albums come from bands making stuff with mates without overthinking genre confines, students of how artistic defiance builds lasting legacy over commercial compromise, fans of bass and synth driven post alt rock refusing metal categorization despite metal fan embrace, believers that 1992 represented peak year for heavy music experimentation, musicians learning confidence from Faith No More's example that it's okay to make what you want regardless of expectations, anyone who dismissed this 30 years ago and needs to give it another chance with open ears, supporters of independent music venue preservation recognizing scenes form in grassroots spaces not corporate amphitheaters, admirers of Mike Patton's evolution from Real Thing hired gun laying vocals over finished songs to Angel Dust full creative collaborator shaping direction, defenders of albums that divide fans because they refuse to repeat past successes.