The Fall of Troy - Phantom on the Horizon
As with last month's album of the month, I only got a hold of this album literally a few days ago. Since getting it though, I have listened to it a lot. November for me was not a big huge month of discovering new music, I simply re-listened to a lot of albums I already love, or haven't listened to in a while. Up until getting this album, I was seriously thinking that I would be listing an old album as an album of the month. But, no!
I was anticipating this album for many months, knowing that they could definitely top Manipulator, which, in my humble opinion, is The Fall of Troy's best work. Many fans and critics would disagree, and think that Doppleganger was their best effort, simply because of the sheer technical ability displayed on that album. Anyway, in summary, I think Manipulator offers better songwriting, with the technical ability still there, but kept in context with the music, and not just random fret and tap wanking. I was also consistently checking their site, and the Wiki page for updates.
When I noticed that the album was going to be classified as one whole song separated into "tracks", I instantly thought "this is going to be like Colors, Frances the Mute and maybe even like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." And, despite the music not exactly being like any of the previous albums mentioned above, it still has a lot of epic parts which are very frequent in those albums.
Compared to last months album of the month, "Introducing" by Foxy Shazam, it doesn't really have a little something for everyone. But, most crucially, the album is balanced; something I've always felt has been lacking in all of their previous albums. Perhaps that quality being a trademark of theirs, writing unpredictable, mathmatical music. Despite being one whole song split up, all the segments link nicely together, with a seemingly musical motive and direction implemented throughout.
I don't see any "single" material for any of the parts in the song, something that The Mars Volta gained with "Widow" from Frances the Mute (which arguably is their most recognised song now). But, for a band like The Fall of Troy, who have received a lot of attention recently thanks to Guitar Hero 3 having F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. as a playable song, this maybe isn't a bad thing. They are deemed still as a very "underground" band, and singles definitely aren't their scene, or something they probably desire either.
Another thing about this album that appealed to me greatly was that it actually had a story behind it - something they had not done before, and again was greatly inspired by those albums mentioned previously; especially Frances the Mute (and, it could be said, some of the solos in this album sound ever so slightly like Omar Rodriguez's own solos, and guitar effects...but still with that traditional FoT sound). The story behind it is of a Spanish galleon ship, meeting a ghost ship from another dimension. And seeing as I am a firm believer of multiple dimensions, this story interested me greatly.
If I ever had one criticism of The Fall of Troy's sound, it was their production. I always thought they had a very weak sound, and that overall they didn't sound very powerful, and that the vocals were far too low in the mix. This album seems to regain a bit of good production, with some interesting panning effects and a lot more powerful sound, the vocals, I feel, still need a lot more work and energy...maybe I'm not a huge fan of Erak's voice, but instrumentally they sound a lot better, and most importantly, tighter. Despite this small criticism, this is still my album of the month.
AN ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
Faith No More - Angel Dust
What can I say about this album that hasn't already been said? Faith No More made, in my opinion, one of the boldest moves in 20th century rock history - going completely against their previous albums success, showing their label and their tag-along MTV crowd a massive middle finger salute to their expectations of their follow up album to The Real Thing. Granted, this was the first album they wrote with significant influence with Mike Patton, who, prior to Faith No More had Mr. Bungle, a band who mixed many genres and experimented in the most odd ways.
Still, if the band didn't want that, they would have said so. Frustrated with "Epic" becoming such a huge hit, they wanted to return to just writing music they wanted to write, rather than what became successful for them. This is something I cannot admire more than enough.
Regarding how some of the lyrics were written, Mike Patton underwent a sleep deprivation experiment, toying with caffiene, and late night TV, and reading fortune cookies and scientology analytical tests. Compiling all this information together, "Land of Sunshine" and "Caffiene" became the bands opening songs on the album...and, is definitely the best way of saying "this is how we're going to write our music. You wanted Epic Part 2? Too bad." I also think this is very dedicated commitment by Patton to write something different and new, if I heard that album in 1992, I would have been completely blown away, and today in 2008 I am after every time listening to it.
A lot of the songs are such a reflection on society, take "RV" for example, an accordion version of the theme from "Midnight Cowboy", and not to mention their 2 big hits "Midlife Crisis" and the cover of the Commodores song "Easy", that, despite being completely against what was happening musically at that time (Grunge), were still hits, simply because they were written well.
Musically, the album is so good - some amazing bass and guitar passages, Mike Bordin's drumming being complementary yet tasty too, and what can I say about Mike Patton...easily my favourite vocalist of the modern rock world, so many diverse styles and ideas. Again, the album is not always easy to listen to, some songs being a bit odd (take "Crack Hitler" and "Jizzlobber" for example), and some being rather pop-like rock songs ("A Small Victory" and "Be Aggressive"), but one song that stands out is "Malpractice"...which, to me, sounds like demented death metal, from a band who are not death metal in the slightest...but can still pull it off.
I advise any open minded, decent music listener to get this album, or at least listen to it.
Iain
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