Warthur California combines the comparatively conventional song structures and occasional mainstream leanings of Mr. Bungle's self-titled debut album with the bizarre laundry list of musical genres brought to bear on Disco Volante (and the two Secret Chiefs 3 albums which had been released in the meantime) in order to craft this delicious conclusion to the Mr. Bungle three-course meal. Songs like Sweet Charity and Retrovertigo lean towards smooth, slick lounge rock, but just when you think you're safe an avant-garde tidal wave like The Air- Conditioned Nightmare surges forth. Perhaps their least metal-focused album, California is still a good listen for anyone interested in a genuinely avant-garde conception of rock music.

Warthur Mr Bungle's debut album was weird, but was mostly rooted in a particular metal subgenre - as a listener you can quickly work out that the band are presenting an avant-garde interpretation of alternative metal, and appreciate it on that basis. Disco Volante, however, is a much trickier proposition; letting their anchor in alt-metal slip, the band deliriously slide between musical genres ranging from death metal to easy listening to free jazz to prog rock polka. This, however, is not random noodling; the compositions here are intricate and reflect the diversifying interests of the band, including the fascination with traditional Arabic music which would go on to become a key ingredient of Secret Chiefs 3.

Whereas the first album presented outrageous vocal gymnastics against a musical backing which usually much more grounded, this time around the musicians are as diverse and versatile in their performances as Mike Patton is with his vocals - and Patton's vocals are even more out of control than they were on the previous album, making full use of the human voice's potential as an instrument. It's easily the most experimental album by Mr Bungle and I'd say it's a key part of their work. That said, unless your tastes in music are incredibly broad you are likely to find some parts of it more compelling than others, so many listeners might find the album uneven.

Warthur Having refined their sound with a range of rare cassette-only releases, Mr Bungle's debut album sees them establish themselves as the most terrifying force in avant-garde alternative metal. Unlike, say, Slipknot or Insane Clown Posse, Bungle never let their mask/clown fixation cross the line into the cartoonish, ensuring that they remained a sinister and enigmatic presence at their live gigs of the time.

This is carried through into the sound of the album, in which Mike Patton truly steals the show with his incredible vocal gymnastics. The musical backing doesn't quite hit the bizarre territory it would reach on the following album, but it's still very enjoyable, with Quote Unquote (AKA Travolta) being one of the best opening songs of an album I've ever heard. No Mike Patton fan should be without one.

Xaxaar Mike Patton's best work.

It is really hard to say anything bad about this album. The only thing I could say would be some songs are not up to par with the other. Some would call this "filler," but there really is none on this album. So I hear you say doesn't that mean there's filler? I think there's enough originality in all of these songs to justify none of them being called filler, all of it adds to the album. I just think some songs are better than others, simple as that...but NONE are bad. Some are just masterpieces.

I'd like to start with the vocals because I think that's the major hilight of the album. Mike Patton is certainly an awesome vocalist. I couldn't imagine an album without him and only he could make an album like this be so great. The shear talent and raw skill is something to admire, but then he goes above and beyond and shows incomparable creativity.

Past the vocals are, well, the instruments. This has a very wide selection and all of them are great. I don't think any one of these really overshadow the rest or fall in comparison, they are just all really solid. All of them seem to share the spot-light here, all though some instruments appear more than others.

Also besides the instruments are the miscellaneous noise. This I can't really call "masterfully done" considering it's just, well, misc. noise, but I do think it enhances the weird zany mood this album gives off.

Hilights of the album include: "Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw" and "Merry Go Bye Bye" while the not-as-good ones consist of: "Everyone I Went to High School With Is Dead" and "Violenza Domestica."

Definitely recommended from me!

topofsm Little more can be said about the diverse talent of Mike Patton. Along with his seemingly limitless array of genres he can play, Patton is a multi-instrumentalist and has thousands of vocal techniques, and has been able to perform sounds live thought unthinkable. Along with Patton is a few members that unfortunately have not had the same amount of limelight, Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance, who have since Mr. Bungle have gone on with Patton to create this diverse avant-garde attitude music with so many influences. Nothing really describes what this crew can do like this album, Disco Volante.

If you look at Disco Volante within the context of their other two albums, it really sounds nothing like them. However, with an album like Disco Volante, there's really no album that sounds remotely like it. It doesn't really have an explicit sound, because the tracks on it are so diverse. There's sludge, techno, folk, funk, jazz, rock, death metal, and probably a thousand other things to find on it, often changing within songs. Hence, you can only really describe the whole of the album as avant-garde, and when you go into all the little pieces, you maybe and only maybe can describe the sound of it.

One good example of this is the song "Carry Stress in the Jaw". It opens up with free jazz saxophone going all over the place (featuring John Zorn, no less!), the rest of the band busts into quick paced free jazz with Patton singing dissonant atmospheric vocal drones over it, when out of nowhere, heavy distorted death metal guitar busts in, turning a weird jazz piece into a complete thrashfest. It goes back to more of the jazz and the pattern repeats itself more, until it all busts out, and we are treated to an unusual midtempo theater organ piece with an old man speaking humorous dialogues all over it. The song has plenty more elements than can be described succinctly in this review, so that's where I will end describing it, and that's only one song! There's still 11 more to go!

This is why Bungle gets so much praise, because of their incredibly diverse music that at the turn of a dime can switch drastically into something wildly different. At the same time, some of the songs are (almost, not really) conventional. One of the best examples is "Desert Search for Techno Allah", which is a fun, danceable track featuring plenty of techno synths and Middle Eastern percussion, which sounds exactly like its title implies. "After School Special" is another song that has an almost conventional structure with a couple verses and chorus, though it is quiet and moody and features some prominent xylophone, so it's hardly conventional. "Merry Go Bye Bye/Nothing" is a perfect example of their sound, as it goes into a very bright and upbeat surf rock song that is easy to sing along to. Then, after a couple verses Patton switches from an easy going singing voice into a drastic black metal type shriek, and all the other instruments blast into thrashing avant-garde extreme metal madness, completely out of the blue.

As far as other songs, all of them are highlights, weird as they are. "Everyone I went to High School With Is Dead" is a great, sludgy opener, "Violenza Domestica" is a French film soundtrack sounding tune, and Platypus is a punky fast paced metal song with some great jazz interplay (with xylophone!), and very complex. "The Bends" is a real treat, as it's a multi part, jazz-infused soundtrack to the horrors of the ocean depths. For the most part, though, keep in mind that there's not an overabundance of metal. In keeping with the idea that you can't really describe the album in a single genre, you can't call it a metal album. Some songs have those elements, but it hardly has much example. So go into listening thinking of it as something other than a metal album.

In conclusion, if someone's looking to get into the unusual and experimental side of Mike Patton (basically anything but Faith No More), then Disco Volante may be the perfect example of it. The only limit to the amount of enjoyment on the album is the listener's patience, as there is certainly a lot to digest. That being said, once the avant-garde weirdness is embraced and you've listened to the album thoroughly, it should certainly become clear why this absolutely bizarre album is lauded as it is.