FAITH NO MORE — The Real Thing (review)

FAITH NO MORE — The Real Thing album cover

Album · 1989 · Funk Metal

4.5/5 · 2010-12-09
J-Man

The Real Thing was a huge leap forward for Faith No More. This was the album that would introduce the world to one of history's greatest rock vocalists, spawn several massive hits, and go on to be considered one of the best rock albums from its era. The difference between this and the underdeveloped previous albums from Faith No More is almost inexplicable. Even though The Real Thing isn't my favorite album from this U.S. powerhouse, this is an album that is absolutely essential for any fan of rock, metal, or otherwise. If you want to understand the first thing about the music scene at the birth of the 90's, this needs to be in your collection. Almost everything about The Real Thing is pure gold - the vocals from Mike Patton are (expectedly) amazing, the songwriting is fun and intriguing, and the musicianship is great as well. This is the album where Faith No More finally decided to add that extra coating of polish that they had been missing, and it surely paid off.

Musically, this is even more eclectic than the earlier Faith No More albums. Expect a mix of funk, heavy metal, pop rock, alternative rock, progressive rock/metal, hip hop, and jazz rock, just to name a few. Songs like the smash-hit "Epic" lead more towards the hip-hop/funk metal side of the band, whereas a song like "The Real Thing" is almost pure progressive metal. Even though every song won't satisfy a purist of any single genre, people with open minds should love every song here. The first 6 songs tend to be stronger than the final 5, but this is just a generalization. When you consider a song like "Edge of the World", which features some great lounge-like piano playing, or their great cover of Black Sabbath's immortal classic, "War Pigs", my generalization really isn't a big deal. This entire album is great, despite a bit of "top-heavy syndrome".

One thing that was always interesting about Faith No More was their slightly twisted lyrics, and that shines ever so brightly on The Real Thing. Just listen to a song like "Zombie Eaters" and you'll know what I mean. The lyrics are often critical towards something, but are presented in a humorous and twisted way. All of the lyrics were written by FNM's new vocalist Mike Patton (aside from the cover of the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs"), and his delivery of the lyrics is also noteworthy. Anyone who knows the man's music knows what a mind-blowing vocalist he is, and that's no exception on The Real Thing. Even though he would have some even better vocal performances on some future releases, his vocals are a lot of what makes this album so great.

The production sounds great. The sound is distinctly of the late eighties/early nineties without that awful synthetic sound. This is a job well done on behalf of Mark Wallace and Faith No More.

Even though The Real Thing isn't my favorite Faith No More album, calling it anything less than essential is a crime. If you like rock music at all, do yourself a favor and pick this up - you won't be disappointed. The Real Thing is worth 4.5 stars for sure. Everything about this album is spectacular, and even though they would become even greater on Angel Dust, this is still one hell of an album that came "from out of nowhere". Essential!