FANTÔMAS — Fantômas (review)

FANTÔMAS — Fantômas album cover Album · 1999 · Avant-garde Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
After the end of Faith No More and near the end of Mr Bungle, Mike Patton suddenly needed a full time band again. The avant-garde bug was stronger than ever and suddenly the freedom to delve into the even more experimental side of music exploded into reality. Patton created FANTÔMAS, a name of a super villain in French crime novels in the early 20th century that was popular in print and films up into the 60s.

With Trevor Dunn also of Mr Bungle, Patton managed to score Buzz Osborne of the Melvins and Dave Lombardo of Slayer to join his ranks and accompany his need for pure vocal weirdness. And that is what we get with this eponymous debut release. Pure weirdness. But weirdness with lots of recognizable influences that sound really, really good if only for fleeting moments before moving on to the next.

The album cover actually is a poster for the 1965 movie “Fantômas se déchaîne” but ironically is translated into Spanish as “Fantômas Amenaza al Mundo” which in English means “Fantômas Threatens The World.” The album is laid out as a comic book would be with 30 pages in 1 book. Chapter 13, however is three seconds of silence since they deem the number to be unlucky, a trend that continues on the next album. Poor number 13, i actually like it.

This is avant-garde metal here and if that is something you fear, i advise you to stay well away from these here bizarre offerings. The gist of the album revolves around Patton’s desire to create experimental vocalizations which for the most part are fairly clever and worthy of expression. The band surrounding these idiosyncrasies accompanies these whims beautifully and totally delivers the goods.

This is an album that i didn’t really take seriously upon first listen. I like many others was more floored by the followup “Director’s Cut” which is a much more accessible take on this movie soundtrack idea, however, recently i have been giving this debut more scrutiny and i have caught the bug. This album is quite remarkable in fact. Yes, it is random in nature and yes, it is quite out of the ordinary but i have been a fan of Mike Patton’s various musical entities for a while now and have adapted to his unique styles of expression.

This album is quite eclectic in scope and will appeal to those who have a wide ranging musical palette. It is truly one that needs time to soak in. It took me a decade for it to click although i admit this isn’t something i’ve spun on a regular basis. Very unique, very clever but not an easy nut to crack. However, if you take the time to pierce its tough hardened shell, you may find something that you can appreciate, at least i did.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Chemical Makeup EP Sludge Metal
HAG BASTARD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Deathbed Dreamer Melodic Metalcore
LOST IN EXILE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Six Eyes And Limitless Metalcore
INFECTED ANGEL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Lost In Exile - INCHES (Official Video)
LOST IN EXILE
Bosh66· 4 hours ago
Shining - Inga Broar Kvar Att Bränna
SHINING
UMUR· 20 hours ago
Shining - Jag Är Din Fiende (official premiere)
SHINING
UMUR· 20 hours ago
SHINING - Avsändare Okänd (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records
SHINING
UMUR· 20 hours ago
Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed