Bob’s Jukebox: Angel Dust

Let me start by admitting I am not much of a metal head. I don’t dislike heavy metal, and in fact a few of my favorite bands are metal bands, but I’m not exactly a huge fan of metal either, to the point where I can’t really name more than a few metal bands. Most of the ones I could name I imagine most folks could name as well, so I’m not exactly a font of knowledge about heavy metal. Still, I’m not a complete stranger to the genre either.

All that being said, “stranger” is kind of a good word for Angel Dust. While it isn’t the most extreme album I’ve heard, nor is it the most disturbing (I’m sure we’ll get to that someday, and I may even include a trigger warning because GWAR), it is stranger than a lot of albums I have heard. Faith No More came out the gate swinging on this one, and they really didn’t slow down until the end. It makes for an often uncomfortable, sometimes tedious, but often fascinating album that comes across (to me, anyway) as an exploration of anxiety and existential angst. Let’s break it down, shall we?

The album starts off with a pair of tracks – “Land of Sunshine” and “Caffeine” – that lyricist and lead singer Mike Patton wrote the lyrics to during a sleep deprivation experiment and yeah, it comes through. The music for “Land of Sunshine” has an energetic and anxious vibe about it. The carnivalesque sound is somewhat disorienting, which I have no doubt is fully intentional. It helps to lend an air of “otherness” and even paranoia to the song.

 The best word I can come up with for “Caffeine” is “uncomfortable”. The best sentence I can come up with for it is “icky icky icky oh my god I feel like bugs are crawling all over my skin please make it stop!” But you know. In a good way. Lyrically this song probes all kinds of uncomfortable places, but in small, indirect ways, which makes it worse somehow than if they would just come out and say it. It’s like the idea that the monster in the horror movie is always scarier when you don’t show it, because what you imagine is worse than anything that can be shown on screen; this song (lyrically and sonically) tries to trigger your own trauma rather than offering any specific trauma for you to empathize with. It’s brutal in that way, and yet fascinating to listen to. Not sure it’s my favorite in terms of the sound, but still a good song.

“Midlife Crisis” is not as deep or frankly as disturbing as the first two, but the music more than makes up for it. It’s great for just rocking out. One of my favorite songs on the album. “RV” is equal parts funny, sad, and disturbing. More performance art than song as usually thought of on an album like this, it’s worth listening to multiple times to get the full impact. With “Smaller and Smaller” the music and energy suddenly shift back to the sort of metal sound you expect out of the album, but again with a twist as they incorporate Native American chants midway through what seems to be intended as somewhat of a protest song. It’s straightforward metal, nothing quite as experimental and outré as the earlier songs on the album, but still a solid entry.

I love “Everything’s Ruined” for a lot of reasons, not least because it’s wide open for interpretation. The music somewhat takes backseat to the lyrics, but the lyrics are enigmatic. I have two possible interpretations: one in which the child simply turns out to be a bad person who ends up in jail (hence the lyrics “And how were we to know/He’s counterfeit”). The other possibility, and one that I prefer, is simply that the parents are overbearing, and the kid grows up having to be their “perfect son” until he’s able to get away from them (“Now everything’s ruined, yeah”). That would allow for the same lyrics, but in a totally different way. I love that both versions work, and other interpretations would work as well.

“Malpractice” is definitely heavy metal, although here is where I get to plead ignorance because I don’t know the different flavors of metal so I don’t know if there is such a thing as “experimental” metal which this certainly would be, and it’s bordering on and perhaps influenced by industrial. Disturbing lyrics are overshadowed by a surreal, almost unhinged soundscape that combines music and effects to produce an unsettling atmosphere. It’s probably not a surprise I usually skip this track.

Lucky for me, we go from one of my least favorite to one of my most favorite. “Kindergarten” has great music (although to be fair, it is far more conventional fare than some other tracks I enjoy, and definitely more conventional than “Malpractice”), and the lyrics once again take central importance. The obvious metaphor for someone stuck in the past and refusing to face the future is no less powerful for its obviousness, and the multiple clever references that all allude to the narrator’s inner turmoil are nicely placed.

As for “Be Aggressive”… Honestly, I’m not sure what the point of this song is other than to be transgressive, particularly given the time it was written. It’s got a good beat, but I just can’t dance to it.

“A Small Victory” could be my favorite song on Angel Dust. It was the first song I heard off the album, and only the second Faith No More song I can remember hearing (the first was “Epic”, which back in the day if you had MTV there was no way you couldn’t feel it, see it, hear it today.) I thought “Epic” was fine, but not great. (Yes, I’m that guy. You may feel free to stone me if you want. I suggest scheduling an appointment, I expect I’ll be quite booked up.) “A Small Victory” was so vastly better I can’t even describe the difference. The music is amazing, and the lyrics just work for me.

For some reason they still hit me in the gut, all these years later; maybe it’s the simplicity of it, particularly the chorus. “It shouldn’t bother me, but it does.” There are so many things in life that we ignore, push down, or disregard, and all those petty slights add up and after a while it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. That’s a feeling I can get behind, that resonates with me.  Even more is the last stanza of the song, which seems somehow more relevant than ever:

If I speak at one constant volume
At one constant pitch
At one constant rhythm
Right into your ear
You still won’t hear

Think about someone you disagree with politically. Imagine trying to convince them of… anything, really. Anything at all. Sound like the stanza above? Now imagine how they feel talking to you. And that’s the world we live in today. And it shouldn’t bother me. But it does.

Well, that got all deep and personal. Let’s lighten up, shall we? Nah. “Crack Hitler” is wicked and interesting, the music is funky and cool, playful without getting into the weird places that “Malpractice” and “Caffeine” get into (although it does go to some weird places). It gestures at “Secret Agent Man” without quite sampling it, and then goes all the way off the rails in the most understandable way. On a personal level, it feels like the sonic equivalent of having one of my manic phases. Not sure if that’s why I like it so much, but this song definitely appeals to me. It’s not my favorite on the album, but it’s up there.

Then there’s the unfortunately titled “Jizzlobber,” which is a sonic assault of screaming, heavy guitar riffs, drumming, and other assorted noise. And that’s me being charitable. I assume someone somewhere likes this song. Find them and ask them what’s good about it, because I can’t tell you. We finish the album with “Midnight Cowboy”. From the worst to one of the best, this delightful instrumental is one of the most shocking tracks on the album, mostly because it comes from Faith No More. It’s not the most innovative or beautiful instrumental I’ve ever heard, but I do like it.

If you’re a fan of heavy metal or experimental music, I highly recommend Angel Dust. While not every track is great or aged as well as some others, there’s more than enough here to warrant more than one listen, and the re-release versions have some bonus material that is even more worthwhile, including the excellent FNM cover of “Easy” by the Commodores. If you’re sensitive to delicate subjects, loud music, or offensive material, I’d take a pass on this one.