Hello, and welcome to another reader requested review! Today, we’ll be looking at Faith No More’s 1989 classic, The Real Thing. This album represents a very pivotal period early on in Faith No More’s legacy. Their third release, The Real Thing came following a pair of underground alt-metal albums, which showed that the band had potential, but ultimately failed to produce any major hits, or even any particularly memorable songs. But with The Real Thing, Faith No More exploded onto the rock scene with an album that is now revered as a classic, and is held up by the critical world as essential alt-rock listening. So what is it about this album that finally made Faith No More click with rock and metal audiences?
Perhaps the most immediately noticable difference between the band’s earliest work and The Real Thing is the change in lead singer. The Real Thing is the first Faith No More album to feature Mike Patton on lead vocals. While Chuck Mosley delivered serviceable vocal performances on the band’s first two records, it was Patton’s distinct and expressive vocal style and delivery that would give Faith No More’s songs a life that they didn’t quite have on the early records. Admittedly, Patton’s voice can be an acquired taste, but it suits the band’s music flawlessly.
We also see major improvement in the department of songwriting on The Real Thing. Here, Faith No More keep their unmistakable groovy, bass-heavy sound intact, while writing songs, lyrics, and melodies which are much more developed and memorable than anything the band had done before. We get infectious, alt-rock classics such as “Epic” and “Falling to Pieces,” as well as heavy, intense thrashers such as “Surprise! You’re Dead!” and “The Real Thing.” This particular song, as well as the soft and haunting “Zombie Eaters,” delve into longer, somewhat prog-influenced compositional styles. At the close of the album, we get the biggest black sheep, a swinging slow jazz tune entitled “Edge of the World,” whose piano parts are one of the instrumental highlights of the album. We even get a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” one of my favorite songs of all time. And while Faith No More doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel with this cover, they deliver a faithful reimagining of the original, which I certainly won’t complain about.
As I said earlier, Faith No More don’t deviate much from their established style here, but they do exponentially improve upon it. Billy Gould’s thunderous, aggressive bass lines are as infectious and singable as any of the vocal melodies on this album. The guitars are layered thickly, and at times chaotically, working with the bass to create a dense, meaty soundscape. Even on softer moments, the drums never let up, keeping this album rhythmically energetic from start to finish. We consistently hear keys and a string section throughout. While these such elements usually only appear sporadically in heavier music, they are an ever-present element in the sound palette of The Real Thing, another of the many aspects of this album which distinguish it from other hard rock and metal releases from the late 80s (keep in mind, when this came out, the rock scene was ruled by hair metal, and major label executives were certain that Warrant was going to be the next big thing. Thank God they were wrong). It’s for these reasons that The Real Thing was so ahead of its time. Someone unfamiliar with Faith No More might listen to this album, hear the thumpy bass work, the vocal stylings and melodies, and the cheesy rap-singing, and think of bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Korn, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, and other bands that wouldn’t rise to prominence until the 90s and early 2000s. Even though some of these bands would arguably go on to do it even better, Faith No More’s proto-nu-metal approach to writing and playing would predict, and even inspire, much of what was to come in the worlds of alternative and heavy music, while standing out entirely from what was coming out of the rock world in the late 80s.
The Real Thing is a significant milestone, not only in Faith No More’s discography, but in the greater timeline of alternative rock and metal. In an unintentionally symbolic move, Faith No More released one of the last great rock albums of the 1980s, which sounded like nothing that had come before it, and forecasted much of what was to come from rock music in the 90s. While this was an early exercise of a multitude of styles and sounds that would be refined and improved upon by a number of bands (arguably including Faith No More themselves), it was a very unique and daring experiment for its time, and it still holds up extremely well today. The Real Thing is a rock classic in every sense, and is essential listening for any fan of alternative music.
Score: 9/10
Favorite Song(s): Epic, Falling to Pieces, War Pigs, The Real Thing, Edge of the World
Least Favorite Song(s): The Morning After
Phil Klinker Music Reviews 