The Real Thing

Faith No More’s The Real Thing turns heavy rock into a thrilling collision of muscular riffs, elastic funk, bright keyboards and unpredictable vocals. Their first album with Mike Patton captures a band discovering how much ground it could cover without losing its identity. Jim Martin’s guitar supplies the weight, while Billy Gould and Mike Bordin give the songs a rhythmic spring that keeps them moving beyond straightforward metal.

“From Out of Nowhere” opens with an immediate rush, and “Epic” places rap, melody and pounding rock within the same restless frame. “Falling to Pieces” combines an irresistible bass line with a soaring chorus, revealing the pop instincts beneath the band’s abrasive surface. Elsewhere, “Surprise! You’re Dead!” delivers a compact burst of aggression, while “Zombie Eaters” expands from restrained beginnings into something darker and more imposing.

The title track stretches towards an ambitious scale, and the instrumental “Woodpecker from Mars” gives Roddy Bottum’s keyboards room to sharpen the album’s unusual character. A forceful reading of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and the smoky piano atmosphere of “Edge of the World” complete the picture. Inventive, exuberant and difficult to categorise, The Real Thing remains a compelling introduction to Faith No More’s singular musical world.