I want to make full use of this space to proclaim what I have
\nstarted believing over the past five years or so, and something
\nthat has only become stronger over time:
\nAngel Dust<\/i> is one of the most path-breaking rock records of
\nthe nineties. It is also gravely overlooked, in terms of the
\ninfluence it has had on contemporary rock music.<\/p>\n
\nAngel Dust<\/i> was created when grunge was at its most
\nlucrative. It was the time when the “Seattle” sound was what
\nbullied the music scene, and every aspiring rock band wanted to
\nbecome a part of the cluster of “Seattle” bands that the early
\nnineties was so famous for. It was during that time that Faith No
\nMore (FNM) came up with the funk-rap-rock-grunge package of
\nAngel Dust<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Rock music with keyboards and rap vocals, which is what grunge
\nhas turned into, was not the same thirteen years ago. Though
\nrap-rock music had a mainstream presence, like that of the Red Hot
\nChilli Peppers, Beastie Boys, etc., the more intense “hard rock”
\nfacet of rock was still pretty much dominated by the rhythm guitar
\nand singers with baritone vocals who could scream really really
\nwell.<\/p>\n
\nAngel Dust<\/i> is grunge and far beyond. Its aggressive rhythm
\nsection is the most prominent feature of its sound — which is the
\ncase with grunge music itself — and the FNM has a vocalist who can
\nnot only hit bassy notes, but does an awful lot more. In its smart
\ngrunge sensibility,
\nAngel Dust<\/i> could also cleverly include rap, funk, and gothic
\nkeyboard layers seamlessly. FNM did this earlier with
\nThe Real Thing<\/i>; but while
\nThe Real Thing<\/i> was aggressive and more commercial,
\nAngel Dust<\/i> is darker and more intense, and a more difficult
\nrecord to have a damned instrument like the keyboard enhancing the
\nfiring powers of its guitars rather than acting as a mellowing
\nagent trying to give the music a sense of melodiousness.<\/p>\n
The most amazing part of this album is that it does not sound
\n“industrial” or badly synth-laden. It sounds like a pure hard-rock
\nrecord, and the keyboards and the funk vibes stand out too, but
\nwithout making the album sound too polished; the stinging rawness
\nis still maintained.<\/p>\n
The album is crazy. Every song on the LP has each member
\ncontending with each other to punch the listener black n’ blue. The
\ntunes are contorted and sound as if played by people on dangerous
\nadrenalin levels. No number proceeds the way it starts and ends the
\nway it proceeds. The record is, to put it plainly — and in a
\nmanner that is befitting — fucked up; messed up badly in the
\nhead.<\/p>\n
Today’s funk-rock acts show anger of the type kids do when they
\nare denied something by their parents. Their angst gets so
\nunnerving at times that you feel like smacking them on the
\nbuttocks, preferably with a whip on fire. FNM’s anger, on the other
\nhand, is unlike anything in today’s rock scene; it is the whip on
\nfire smacking into buttocks and anything else that gets in its
\nway.<\/p>\n
Singer Mike Patton’s vocals are among the best in rock. He
\nswitches between rap, baritone rock singing, mindlessly possessed
\nscreaming, and cadaverously cold mutterings with the minimum effort
\nand maximum efficacy. On “RV,” Patton — presumably on a high dose
\nof meth — ends the song speaking with an air of cheesy nonchalance
\n“I think it’s time I had a talk with my kids \/ I’ll tell ’em what
\nmy daddy told me \/ You ain’t never gonna amount to nothing,” and
\nthe whip cracks hard. It cracks harder and more painfully on the
\nsong about progenies “Everything’s Ruined,” which goes like this:
\n“We were like ink and paper \/ Knew arithmetic so well \/ We had to
\nmultiply ourselves \/ Baby became a fat nickel so fast \/ Then came
\npuberty \/ But he made us proud \/ He made us rich \/ But how were we
\nto know he was counterfeit \/ Now everything’s ruined,” and on
\n“Kindergarten” (“Kindergarten \/ Born late \/ Will I graduate \/
\nDrinking fountains are shorter than they used to be \/ the swings on
\nthe playground don’t even fit me anymore”).<\/p>\n
FNM wanted to let out its aggression by having fun with its
\nmusic, and hence sounds honestly angry. On the other hand, the
\nfunk-rock emo buffoons on today’s modern rock charts want to be all
\naggressive in letting out the anger they do not have in the first
\nplace, and end up making fun of their music instead. FNM inspired a
\nmusic genre that is now putting itself to great shame.<\/p>\n
\nAngel Dust<\/i> is a must-buy rock album, recommended not for
\nrockers looking for self-pitying angst, but for bold adventurers
\nwho are fearless enough to try rock music that’s an unpredictable
\nand frantic juggernaut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":24562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5784],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38405","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-faith-no-more","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38405"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}