For years it seemed almost impossible that Faith No More would ever make their return, and it remained but a pipe dream for their heavily dedicated fan base. They answered everyoneâs prayers in 2009 with several festival and club performances, which carried on for a couple of years, only to go slightly quiet again. The reason for this silence is that they were putting together the foundations for what would be their first new material since 1997âs âAlbum Of The Yearâ, which would come to light in the shape of their new album âSol Invictusâ.
With a musical output as enduring, and timeless as Faith No More have, you would be right to approach âSol Invictusâ with a sceptical view. Their back catalogue is one of the strongest by any rock band of the last 30 years, with every album expanding on the last, constantly pushing the boundaries of contemporary music. Would they make another genre-defying album? Would they better some of their classic releases? Would they sully their legacy with a sub par album? All of these questions are justified, and the simple answer to them is that they havenât done any of those things.
Within seconds of the title track you are greeted by the incomparable vocal of Mike Patton. Brooding, and as soul-stirring as ever over a broken piano melody, showing Faith No More have not lost any of their flair for the dramatic. They then launch into âSuperheroâ with a thunderous Billy Gould bass line that could have been straight out of âKing For a Day, Fool For a Lifetimeâ, and is essentially vintage Faith No More. They then take it down a notch or two and focus on the bizarre end of their spectrum with âSeparation Anxietyâ which is more slow and droning, with Patton showing his excellent vocal range as always.
Rather than choosing to go for a more straightforward collection of songs, âSol Invictusâ primarily focuses on the more avant-garde side of Faith No More. Perhaps fuelled by Pattonâs work with his projects Mr Bungle and Tomahawk over the years, but this is not an album of âclassic hitsâ by any stretch. âRise Of The Fallâ is a somewhat disjointed, and at times a nonsensical romp, and âMotherfuckerâ sounds dated and a little childish by dropping as many expletives as possible into three and a half minutes. It is the lower points like this that make you think that Faith No More are capable of so much more than this.
Thankfully, âMatadorâ proves the last statement to be true, as it is filled with a harrowing atmosphere before Pattonâs soaring vocal in the chorus lifts it up, ending with a glorious lead guitar passage from John Hudson at itâs cadence. The final track âFrom The Deadâ ends the album on a high as the band reaches their most melodic, sounding like the closing moments of a film score.
So where does âSol Invictusâ sit within the long arc of the Faith No More story? In short it is a Faith No More album for Faith No More fans. It doesnât break any new ground, and doesnât see the band pushing themselves in the way that they did on faultless records like âAngel Dustâ and âKing For A DayâŚâ but it doesnât ruin the legacy of the band in any way. While âSol Invictusâ may not be a classic Faith No More album, they have still proved their relevance in a time of very âsafeâ music.
GLEN BUSHELL