The Real Thing

Beige metal. A rather bland offering

You are an angel heading for the land of sunshine, and fortune is smiling upon you

One Epic song a great album does not necessarily make

A fantastic album that beautifully fuses different styles of music. It roars into life with the opening two tracks, the second of which is well, Epic! A bit varied in the middle and then the sublime War Pigs cover, too stuff.

Utterly in a genre and class of its own. I think it probably sounded a bit over the top and unfocused when it came out, and certainly didn’t fit and ‘norms’ of the end of peak hair rock. But given its influence over many future bands and genres, the older it gets, the way they uniquely drew together rock, funk and rap just sounds all the more inspiring. No-one can and will sound like Paton, and he makes the difference in the varied and powerful delivery of some epic choruses. In conclusion, this is as they say, epic.

3.5

Mostly fine, some not so good.

Ne mogu da vjerujem da je ovo jedini Faith No More na listi!!! Imaju minimalno dva albuma koja to više zaslužuju a realno su sva tri trebala biti tu. Jedan od najboljih bendova na svijetu, meni najdraža muzička uspomena iz djetinjstva, ali Mike Patton je meni apsolutno najutjecajniji i najznačajniji muzičar u historiji muzike i mislim da je još nekih drugih genijalnih stvari trebalo biti na ovoj listi. Nisam ljubitelj nazalizacije s ovog i prvog Mr. Bungle albuma ali čak se i dobro uklapa u sve ostalo i ne smeta ni blizu koliko ima smisla. Meni Epic nije ni blizu top 20 njihovih najboljih pjesama ali kakav glavni hit! I svaki singl je vrhunski. Onda imamo najbolju verziju War Pigs, još par epskih pjesama, nekoliko promjena u dinamici koje su majstorski odrađene, Gouldyev genijalni bas, riffove koji mnogima nedostaju na albumima poslije Angel Dusta ali meni su se snašli i bez toga. Peppersi nikad ne bi mogli. Morala sam i njih uvrijediti usput.

This came From Out of Nowhere.

JL : 3, Woodpecker From Mars

Maybe I'm too critical, but another one that I can pass on.

Un peut mid mais apparament c’est les pionnier du nu métal

Some good tunes but I struggle to listen to more than a couple in a row

Enjoyed the big hitters, good cover of War Pigs

Some great stuff, some alright. A 3.5

The audacity to be this piss-poor of a band and close your album with a 6 minute instrumental followed by a thoughtless cover of War Pigs.

Bloody hell

Power chords, excellent drums. Underdog energy. Favorite track - From Out of Nowhere

Middling. It all sounds the same ish

Faith No More have always been hard to pin down: metal meets jazz, rap, and a medley of smaller influences. That could be brilliant - and it is - in its better moments. And so “The Real Thing” hovers almost constantly on the border between genius and madness. It’s a beautiful album, but it lacks the consistency needed to be truly top-tier.

Ah man, Faith No More have produced some amazing music over the years, and this is certainly one of those watershed moment inclusions... as much as I enjoy a lot of the content here, it's still very much a band finding its feet and style in my opinion. I very much prefer Mike's "grown up" voice too and as opposed to the nasal, whiney stuff. Nonetheless, this has it's place for sure.

Wow this is really not for me, I guess fans of Megadeth and System of a Down might like it. I was absolutely begging for it to end for about 45 minutes. It was insane how much he sounded like Anthony Kiedis at some points. One standout line was “Hug me, kiss me, then wipe my butt and piss me”

💧🔥🌋

This one was awesome, I'd never really heard much of Faith No More outside of what would play on the radio, but this was great! I really liked Surprise! You're Dead, and Woodpecker From Mars. 5 stars.

Loved this album from its release. Although I think Angel Dust is better.

3/5 A bit all over the place, but when it does something good, it's good.

An all-time favorite from my teens.

Pretty rockin' stuff. Epic is exactly as the title insinuates. The rest was decent.

That voice…

It’s everything I stand against in this world.

A very good album.

Really not my style of "loud" rock.

Cool funky and creative. The bass play shines through and also the vocals. Favourites: Epic, Falling To Pieces, The Real Thing, War Pigs and From Out of Nowhere.

Teenage me watching surf vids, yes. Middle-aged me walking the dog, no.

It’s, uh, interesting. It had cool stuff I liked maybe 20% of the time, the rest of it was weird

i didn’t hate it as much as i thought i would but he has the most annoying voice

Among its "Funk Metal" peers, it's passable. Among all available music, it's a pass.

This really felt like they took a bunch of music genres I don’t really lean into and blended them. Potentially to compliment each other, potentially to mute their more extreme sounds. I don’t really know. It just seemed like it didn’t know what it wanted to. The end product came out feeling less innovative and more amateur.

Mike Patton is cool.

90s nostalgia for sure, but it pretty much holds up 30 years later.

1989 so it's definitely a precursor to nu metal. Not for me. 2/5.

Better than Red Hot Chili Peppers but a bit too polished for me.

Boring

This takes me back. Epic was my favorite song when I was like five.

Pretty rad.

First Listen Favorites: Woodpecker From Mars Epic Edge of the World Honorable Mentions: Zombie Eaters Underwater Love Falling to Pieces

Pretty pretty pretty sick

boy did this not age well. Even the one actual hit sounds old and tired. This is a completely insignificant album that only exists as a warning to others. Okay it wasnt that bad, but it shows why that attempt at a new genre failed

Ah man, Faith No More have produced some amazing music over the years, and this is certainly one of those watershed moment inclusions... as much as I enjoy a lot of the content here, it's still very much a band finding its feet and style in my opinion. I very much prefer Mike's "grown up" voice too and as opposed to the nasal, whiney stuff. Nonetheless, this has it's place for sure.

Falling To Pieces

Didn’t like this at all bar the war pigs cover

A classic of the genre. I never really listened to this much before, preferring the later Angel Dust. However this has some epic compositions on it. The keyboard is perfectly placed to give that sense of operatic drama that FNM are known for

These guys have always intrigued me ever since I heard "Epic" as a kid. I'm not sure if they were necessarily the first group to experiment with funk/alternative metal, but they were undeniably influential in some regard at least. They just have a signature sound that sort of bleeds throughout their other works. Samey at some points, but works for the rest. Get past Mike Patton's cartoonish vocals, and you've got a bit of a gem here.

in some ways mike patton crawled so fred durst could run, but despite that this is still a damn good album. 4/5.

It’s good, I’ve heard some call this the better versions of RHCP, I disagree. But it’s overall enjoyable.

Good album, some real bangers on it. Vocals are annoying, overall sound is class though.

meh

This seems pretty revolutionary for 1989, but I don't think it aged too well.

Epic alone makes it a great album, but it was a fun listen nontheless!

Best Track - "Epic"

Otra banda clásica y única, con este tocaron el cielo mezclando estilos (metal, funk, lo que sea ) basados en la imponente voz y carisma de Mike Patton. Esto en el 89 era una gozada. Aquí destacan Epic y sobe todo The Real Thing. Con un sonido algo similar a Livin Colour pero con más calidad compositiva, a un nivel superior entonces al de los Red Hot Chili Peppers. Edge of the World es un cruce con música Soul, Falling to Pieces es la mejor del disco. También incluye War Pigs de Black Sabbath NO incluye una versión fabulosa de Easy, de los Commodores que fue inlcuida en si siguiente y excelente disco (Angel Dust)

This is a band I've heard of before, but their albums have kinda been sitting in my library waiting to be played. All this to say, I'm very fond and forgiving of alt and nu metal (despite how try-hard and reiterative these genres can be), and this record is no exception. A pure shot of metal fusion that's packed with heavy hitters! It surprised me just how much I enjoyed this so-called funk metal, so much so that the 5 stars really crept up on me.

Standouts: Epic, Falling to Pieces, Zombie Eaters, War Pigs, and Edge of the World Good when it came out and still worth a listen. 4/5

Whenever I've tried this album in the past, two issues have always been at the forefront of my experience. The first is Mike Patton's vocal style, which markedly changed for the better on later Faith No More albums and in his numerous side projects, but on The Real Thing it frequently occupies that high, nasally register which becomes cumbersome and irritating very quickly for me. The second is the overwhelming length and pacing of the album – by the end of it, I feel like I've had more than enough in my ears despite the constant barrage of cool riffage and generally unhinged nature to the songwriting. Are both of those issues still present for me after this listen? Yes, but I think I might have had a eureka moment where I don't mind it anywhere near as much as I used to, even if it still isn't a favourite of mine. I can appreciate it now for how it blurred the lines between stylings and did things which few, if any bands at the time were doing. Sabbath-esque riffs and rubbery basslines colliding with cinematic synthesisers, plus occasional hints of reggae influences makes for an interesting backdrop for Patton to do his thing.

THE GREATEST.

uglavnom krindž sranje, zadnja pjesma je dosta dobra i pokazuje koliko je album u stvari mogao biti dobar, što u biti uništava čitav dojam jer album nije dobar

I have no complaints. I feel like this is the band red hot chili peppers in the 80s wish they sounded like.

3.5/5

There was plenty to like here - the thrash elements mixed well with a variety of other influences, a fantastic bass sound, and some really enjoyable melodic motifs. While the vocals didn’t do much for me, I can definitely see this growing on me with another listen, going from a tentative 4 to a solid 4.

Not my vibe. Nice voice though

It’s like if the beastie boys and Bon Jovi had a baby, but the child was adopted by 90s era King Crimson

I had heard a cover of epic by Brass Against a while ago and thought it was great and that I must look up the original. I never did that, so I was pleasantly surprised when it came on. I really enjoyed listening to this album, it felt like a combination of some different sounds that were emerging at the time.

Insufferable whiney and nasally vocals, that's a no from me dog. Epic is the only entertaining song to me, and that's because I like to make fun of how ridiculous the vocals are.

It was alright, I've heard a couple of the hits off this one before. Kinda 80s rock/grunge style, it's acceptable but nothing worth revisiting IMO.

An interesting blend of rock with various musical stylings, like metal, funk, and hip-hop. I found the vocals to be grating at times in their pitch, but overall matched the demands of the styles featured by each song. Unfortunately, none of the music appealed to me until the instrumental track Woodpecker From Mars, which exemplified the talent of the musicians in the band and their ability to shine on each of their respective instruments. The War Pigs cover carried this show of talent further as each player was able to add unique flourishes to each of their parts, making this track more enjoyable than most covers. Overall, I feel that Faith No More is generally a band whose musical quality is less than the sum talent of each individual member, and this album is no exception.

War beim Hören lange für mich auf einem Level mit "Angel Dust". Hier steckt schon wahnsinnig viel drin, was man auf späteren Nu Metal-Platten wiederfindet, geht aber stilistisch mit den Funk-Einflüssen sowie den Keyboard-Einsätzen noch so viel weiter. Die großen Hits ballern weiterhin alles weg. Nur gegen Ende verliert die Platte für mich leider mit "The Morning After" und diesem komischen Instrumental ihr Mojo (auf "Angel Dust" gab's zwar auch ein Instrumental, aber das ging nicht so fürchterlich lang). Meine Hoffnung, dass die Platte danach wieder Fahrt aufnimmt, wurden leider durch die Info zerstört, dass das Album danach eigentlich schon vorbei ist. Nach dem uninspirierten "War Pigs"-Cover (weit entfernt von den Qualitäten von "Easy") kann mich immerhin der zweite Bonus-Track noch überzeugen. Aber insgesamt müsste die Platte einfach etwas länger sein, um solche kleinen Ausfälle zu kaschieren. Sie müsste einfach noch mehr wie "Angel Dust" sein.

Zu Beginn wurde ich entgegen meiner Erwartungen überrascht. Abwechslungsreich ohne den roten Faden zu verlieren. Gut mitzuhören, sehr cool. Wirklich ein gutes Album und bei War Pigs war ich nochmal überrascht wie gut die Stimme zum Original passt.

Hatte mich darauf eingestellt es nicht gut zu finden, da ich von dem Album bislang nur Epic kannte, was cool ist aber was ich wie ich finde sehr nach der Zeit klingt und das nicht unbedingt im positiven Sinne. Aber der ganze Rest wirkt zeitloser für mich was sowas dann auch wirklich zu einem Album macht, welches man sich anhören sollte

This is an album that I heard a bit in high school and didn't like much - especially the aesthetic in the film clips. I did get into King For A Day when that came out, but that was about all my Faith No More exposure. Then years later in the pre-streaming days of MP3 I discovered a media server someone had hidden on a corporate network. It had a few dozen albums that was a real mix - some old school blues, early Dylan, Hendrix... and two outliers - Audioslave, and The Real Thing. Audioslave were catchy and good for a while but I kind of bored of them. I didn't listen to The Real Thing at first but then once I'd played the hell out of everything else there I gave it a go and... And I was surprised. It's a good album. It's a mish mash of everything, it directly inspired some absolutely abhorrent music, but... But it's good. A lot of it is even great. I can get people finding Patton grating. There are also guitar/bass/drum/synth tones in here that are very much a product of their time. But The Real Thing (the song) is genuinely great, Epic is as it claims to be, the opener is a banger, etc. And Woodpecker from Mars has a very stoner/desert sound going so I guess not all the music this album influenced is abhorrent. If I were to be critical (of the album, not the acts the followed it) it would be the cover of War Pigs. Is it a good cover? I mean, they can obviously play. But why would I listen to this over the original? It is literally note for note.

cool sub-metal stuff

In this record, you're hit with a good track then a poor one, and it loops until it ends. Favourite Track(s): Surprise! You're Dead Least Favourite Track(s): Falling to Pieces, The Real Thing

I like the excitement, the poppy semi-punk energy, of the opening number, From Out of Nowhere. What I can immediately tell will be irritating as the album progresses is the lead singer's voice. Patton's singing is kind of whiny and performative, something that is sometimes used to bolster songs into something stupidly good (Epic, War Pigs) and in other cases completely unhinged, almost gratingly so (The Morning After, Edge of the World). The track Epic definitely makes sense as the "popular" track. IT contains nicely spaced horns, adding a sort of rise-and-fall climactic element to an already dramatic piece. Nice guitar injections as well, both in the high and low register. The intro to the piece is completely unexpected – almost like a more 80s-esque Beastie Boys. It's followed by the similarly strong Falling to Pieces, whose vocal is extremely prominent but is softened a bit by the backing vocals and omnipresent synths in the back. After the poppiness and positivity of the opening trio, one might expect the music's intrigue to slowly diminish as we hear piece after piece of the equivalent of 80s easy-listening. But Faith No More clearly isn't afraid to diverge into much harder, less tonal rock – as seen with Surprise! You're Dead!. The fast, lengthy riffs and constantly changing time signatures and tempos remind me a bit of TOOL, though with a sort of thrash metal vocal much harsher than Keenan's. Then we get whiplash delivered straight to the gut, for Zombie Eaters is a (relatively) beautiful, soft ballad featuring only vocals, very quiet acoustic guitar, and held keyboard synth notes. At least, until a couple of minutes in. The song takes a bizarre turn into... hard rock, I guess? But not very good hard rock. Apparently the lyrics for this album were written in 10-12 days – yet I would've guessed 10-12 minutes: "So hug me and kiss me / And wipe my butt and piss me". I imagine this song could grow on you after many listens, but honestly I'm content with just a single run-through. At the beginning of side 2, we have a pretty nifty drum line, which absolutely sells the track. I guess the singing is relatively strong, too. But only as compared to the other songs here. The whiny delivery at 4:15 (and other places) is unequivocally crap, though. I generally like the smooth, simple rock of Underwater Love, contrasting texturally with some of the earlier tracks. The band seems to really love those high drone synth notes on the keyboard, though. We've heard it a few times before, and again it shows up in The Morning After. The singing also has that unbearably whiny, nasally quality that can't be good for either the ears or the larynx. Cool grungy bass part, though. Woodpecker From Mars is a pretty solid way to end on a climactic note. Plus, it's a purely instrumental track. Those two bonus tracks are actually some of the strongest on the album. Patton does a rock-solid Ozzy impression, to the point where the War Pigs cover could genuinely passed off as a live Black Sabbath performance. The only big difference from the Sabbath version is the various tempo changes throughout. Great cover of a great song. Weird choice to have a fine-dining (or elevator music) piano line as the hook for Edge of the World, given the rest of the music is worlds apart from fine-dining, but... sure. 3/5 Key tracks: From Out of Nowhere, Epic, War Pigs

One of my favorites!

As y'all know, I do not dig the snarly whiny so this singer is a no go for me..but it's a pretty kickin' album nonetheless and of course I remember Epic from back in the day

A childhood friend’s little brother reminds me of this album. Always stirring up the kids - creating some action in boring little town. Also, getting us in trouble.

The name Thomas Midgley Jr. may not mean much to most people living today - or ever really. His name has disappeared into the annuls of time for good reason other than it being a cautionary tale. But the effects of his actions over 100 years ago live on. He has arguably affected the Earth more profoundly (and negatively) than any single person or living organism in the history of this planet - volcanos and meteors may be the only things in the universe to have left a greater mark on this rock were call home. How is it that a mechanical engineer working for GM had so much power? Simple - he solved a problem that was financially beneficial to GM. He/they overlooked some problematic data and repackaged lead - long not to be toxic to humans - and marketed it as “ethyl”. This additive (tetraethyllead) was incorporated into gasoline which helped engines run more smoothly. Leaded gasoline was the default gasoline for the next 50 years. If this had been Midgley’s only gift to the world he would be looked at with contempt but perhaps would have avoided being seen as the abomination that he truly is. For his next act TMJ upped the ante and took to the skies. Air conditioning and refrigeration systems used a variety of compounds as refrigerants. All of them were toxic. Working with a team at Frigidaire they eventually synthesized dichlorodifluoromethane - the first CFC - which was named Freon. A gift tax keeps on giving. Midgley had escaped death from lead poisoning earlier in this life (a fact that was withheld during the promotion of the newly release Ethyl). But Karma is a bitch. At 51 he contracted polio and was left severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. On November 2, 1944, at the age of 55, he was found dead at his home in Worthington, Ohio. He had been killed by his own device after he became entangled in it and died of strangulation. If you are asking the inevitable question - is Faith No More to be blamed for the hell that they indirectly unleashed on the airwaves over the next decade? The foundation of Nu Metal starts here. Without them you don’t get Korn, Slipknot, and Limp Bizkit much less Alien Ant Farm, Crazy Town and Mudvayne. Does the kicking down of musical boundaries that leads misguided youths to pollute the radio for a decade compare to someone whose advancements lead to the deaths of an incalculable number of people and a warming planet we are still dealing with today and only starting to understand the full impacts thereof. All I’d saying is you obviously you haven't listened to Limp Bizkit’s Results May Vary.

1/2

269. 2.5

You know what, hell yeah. I've listened to this before. I like it! On this listen I noted enjoying Zombie Eaters, Underwater Love, and the War Pigs cover especially.

Good album, not great. I can see how FNM influenced an array of bands moving forward as their sound is definitely unique but not everything hit for me

An album that actually invented a genre. Honestly a quite varied album, despite being fairly hard hitting.

After 1034 records I too have Faith No More in this list.

Really good energy, and I like the lyrics as well! ★★★★

Another band I found through Tony Hawk, kind of a more punk Chili Peppers? Epic is by far the standout, but I liked “Woodpecker from Mars” and the War Pugs cover. Doesn’t quite click for me like some of the other 80s punk.

1.8 Tough listen, there was a couple riffs here and there that we ok. Made it 3/4 through before I switched over to ST

Mike Patton? The Middle Class guy?

From Out of Nowhere - 4/5 Epic - 4.5/5 Falling to Pieces - 4/5 Surprise! You're Dead! - 3.5/5 Zombie Eaters - 4/5 The Real Thing - 4/5 Underwater Love - 4/5 The Morning After - 4/5 Woodpecker From Mars - 4/5 I'd like to congratulate these guys on somehow creating one of the most hated genres in nu metal, even though this debut of a new genre in essence was not bad at all! Epic is the obvious standout, and if you think they can't actually play, they have Woodpecker from Mars and a pretty solid cover of War Pigs on here that shows they can roll with the punches. Not a bad album, like the Chili Peppers if they leaned into metal more and were also better. Overall: 4/5 Favorites: Epic

"Epic" is an old fave of mine. The rest of the album is decent enough but pales in comparison. Still pretty good overall.

First listen Saved 3/11

So to start off: I know Mike Patton is one of the most versatile vocalists known to mankind, but I've never been a big fan. His voice just kinda annoys me, though not in a major way. Of course, this album isn't just Mike Patton, it's Faith No More. And this Faith No More album, it's fine. A lot of different styles, including some rap rock that may or may not have inspired nu metal. But while nothing sucks here, it's also true that none of this rises above mediocre to me, either. It almost feels worse that such a diverse sounding album is so mid, but I'm keeping this rating a low 3.