Mr. Bungle is an odd avant-garde band. They like to make songs about messed up, painful, and depressing subjects, but hide that in their immense talent and genre shifts. Frontman Mike Patton, known on this album as 'Vlad Drac' due to him releasing 'The Real Thing' with Faith No More two years ago and him not wanting anyone to pick up the album due to his name simply being on it, leads some of the most talented musicians which would make even Frank Zappa drop his jaw at some points.The band is made up of Mike Patton on vocals and keyboards, Danny Heifetz on drums, Trey Spruance on guitar, Trevor Dunn on bass, Clinton McKinnon on tenor saxophone, and Theo Lengyel on alto saxophone.
If you like Faith No More, you may even end up hating Mr. Bungle, because it's so different, but if you do find a way to like them, it is definitely rewarding. Mr. Bungle is very diverse, and I cannot stretch this enough, talented. Trey and Trevor lead the songs through many transitions with ease, Danny always readjusts perfectly to the beat, Clinton and Theo follow, and Mike leads the songs with his singing, rapping, screaming, screeching, growling, tribal yelling, crooning, and other assorted vocal styles. There is not a vocal style he has not completely mastered. He is a master of his own voice, complete control.
Not pictured: Theo LengyelOne thing you're sure to find on the album is diversity. Mr. Bungle changes genres a lot, even during the middle of songs. One such example is not on this album, but the next, but for an example of how diverse they are, they have a song that starts with '50s pop, goes into death metal, then quickly turns into industrial, noise, turns into country for the finisher, and ends in ambient. Not for you? Not for a lot of people.
They go crazy on this album. From 'Squeeze Me Macaroni' where Mike quickly raps out clever lines about wanting to have sex with food, to 'Dead Goon', where he poses as a child (possibly someone he knew) who's bullied every day, ends up trying to hang himself, then at the last second decides he can go on with life, a new found strength, that he can rise above everyone who hurts him, and make his life into what he wants..
And then he accidentally falls off of the bar-stool.
As the noose gets tighter and tighter, represented by the music, you can hear Mike gasping for air, as he symbolizes the child being strangled to death by his own mistake, before keyboards kick in with his soft singing, he's in absolution, he's finally happy...
And that my friends, is how Mr. Bungle are messed up.
Also of note, randomly, is that they had a few demo albums before this album, but given that they are demos, I will not review them, although on their first demo, you can see they used to be a death metal band.
There's a lot of genres shown on this album, such as, but not limited to metal, jazz, hip-hop, punk, blues, chamber music, circus music, polka music, tribal, and many more.
The songs themselves are great, every single one seems to hit their mark. Each song is filled with little details and samples that you'll never catch on just one listen. The majority of the album (aside from songs like 'Squeeze Me Macaroni') have a really creepy feel to them, like Mike is a serial killer, a pedophile, a rapist, etc. And it really helps, given the subject matter of the songs. What also really happens is that none other than the legendary John Zorn produces this album, and Maximum Bob of the Deli Creeps is on back-up vocals. Nice.
An argument will always be made: Even if Mike and crew were influenced by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, is Mike the new Frank Zappa? Is Mike or Frank Zappa better? And are Mr. Bungle more talented than the Mothers of Invention? I will not personally give a view on this, but I will say this: If Frank Zappa were still alive, he'd be proud, and there's no doubt in my mind he'd listen to this.
So are there any gripes I have with this album? Really just one: In the songs, sometimes near the end, they place long samples of conversations or other assorted things, and quite frankly, I just always have to skip them unless I'm busy while listening to it, as these samples go on for even minutes at a time! If you've heard them once, you'll never particularly want to hear them again, like someone having diarrhea at the end of one of the tracks.
Overall, I gotta give this 8/10. Brilliant for a debut.
Recommended Track(s): Stubb a Dub, My Ass is on Fire
