After 18 years, Faith No More return to the light and bring Sol Invictus. Can the ingenious minds of yesteryear conquer the day once again?
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Text Review:
There is a line from “The Sandlot” that goes “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” Back in 1989, Faith No More released their album The Real Thing which shook the music world with a huge awakening. To this day, songs like Epic are still played on rock radio.
A band like Faith No More falls into a category like Primus, where they have such a unique identity that it is almost impossible to identify what sub genre they belong in because they are so singular, but they clearly are a staple of rock.
So, after 18 years from their most previous release Album of the Year, Faith No More decided that going on a reunion tour and playing for the crowd just wasn’t enough. And after practicing and working back to the quality they are known for, they announced that “The Reunion Tour is over; in 2015 things are going to change.”
While I cannot speak for everyone, I think that many fans and listeners will go into Sol Invictus hoping that it captures even a fraction of the intensity and passion that they exuded in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It’s very rare to recapture lightening in a bottle, and especially after doing it once already almost two decades earlier. What we received this past March was the album’s first single Superhero. With this superhero came a new hope for what was to come.
My excitement started when I heard the alternating screaming of “Go” from different voices. It instantly had the sound and personality of Faith No More from years ago and quickly led to what is a great song both lyrically and musically.
The piano notes and hearing “Leader of Men” stands out so triumphantly in this song and it ends which the same madness and intensity as it begins. Out of the ten tracks on this album, I don’t think they could have picked a better choice than Superhero to get people excited for what’s to come.
After listening to all of Sol Invictus a few times it dawned on me that this album was the creative work from truly brilliant minds waiting patiently to perform something special. That perseverance paid off. Songs like Separation Anxiety and Superhero bring in the volume while Rise of the Fall and Matador prove they can still bring in the melody.
Separation Anxiety is that dark and gritty style that features Mike Patton’s vocals beautifully while the bass and drums carry this song on a deep rhythm that sucks you into the song and puts you into a rage. It’s eye-opening like many of the songs from Faith No More have come to be labeled as throughout the decades.
There will be many fans who are hoping for more of an “EPIC” style album, but in reality every song from a band like this is an individual entity. This album carries the tradition of delivering a fearless intensity that was set many years ago, and prove that despite years of inactivity, you can still stand at the front of the game.
Say whatever jokes you want about age and rock needing a new youthful generation to revive the genre back to the top. The truth is that it doesn’t matter what stage of life the musicians are in, so long as the music is good. Faith No More just nailed that message into the wall.
Overall, anyone who at any point enjoyed listening to Faith No More will love Sol Invictus. It sounds like Faith No More took their ability out of a time capsule and continued where they left off. It’s something special, and something worth getting excited about.
