Faith No More - King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime

After so much time, this still feels shamefully under-explored

The sun used to rise and set for a brief time around this release for me, what I clearly thought then was their finest work. Although it has not stood up quite as sturdily as the previous masterpiece AD, I can still rationalize this as their most mature and certainly most diverse work. Few bands could dip into so many genres without loosing credibility, and the way Patton frames his voice differently for each track compliments these refined musicians like no one else in rock music can, as they say. Perhaps this is even the last disc this truly gifted vocalist approached with full on open mindedness before spiraling into anti-earnestness, but you almost can't blame him when loosing a band as gifted as this. January 2, 2009

the return of metal to fnm sound but no jim martin gone!

this cd is a good they have their guitar edge back but not for long and it can't stack up to the reel thing in my book butmuch better than angle dust which lack alot of guitar.this is a top 3 fnm cds. July 15, 2008

A Strong Release!

The follow up to the phenomenally good Angel Dust, Faith No More's King for a Day - Fool for a Lifetime plays as a more straight up, rock n' roll album (well...as much as Faith No More ever does), with obvious R&B influences and hints of metal, as well. It's Faith No More, so it's still a bit eccentric, but not as much so as Angel Dust, which took those eccentricities about as far as they go, this side of Mr. Bungle.

There are a lot of good tracks, here, and, as always, the band does a good job of providing a good deal of variety. A FNM album is rarely boring for lack of song variety, and this one is no exception to that rule. From the slow, almost Latin approach in "Caralho Voador" to the frantic "Digging the Grave," Faith No More offer up a little of everything, and it makes their albums so very interesting.
February 7, 2008

Staid release

A highly respectable art rock bordering onto art metal release from an accomplished and of guys who were real veterans of the game by this stage, FNM having their genesis as far back as 1982. And that experience shows in this well crafted album that addresses a range of styles not just of hard rock or heavy metal but truly mellow, almost crooning numbers where lead singer Mike Patton truly gets to step inside the song, not just blaze away with his whole `look how close to true insanity I am' schtick. Which makes for an interesting brew of tunes that sway from the understated Evidence to only slightlys less mellow Star AD which follows a deceptively hypnotic vocal hook through to caffeine infused art metal like Cuckoo For Caca.

It all descends into blissful anarchy at times, aggression pouring out to the point where it can't really be focussed while at others the gear shifting is quite impressive, the band also being well able to create a studio based experience for the listener that takes into account good production values based on craft.

It does also descend, however, into a fairly anonymous bunch of tunes piled up like a freeway accident at the end of the album. Like one of those really huge accidents you see on the news during the Northern Hemisphere winter where, like, 50 cars have slammed into one another bumper to bumper.

Which is a pity as this album had a decent amount of push and some reasonable market share was still there for the band. A flawed gem IMHO and certainly if you a fan of the band on the Angel Dust and The Real Thing albums then you'll certainly find some interesting listening on this album. January 16, 2008

Faith no more's follow-up to angel dust

This album is just fantastic. All though it may not be as good as "Angel Dust", it is an underrated album. This album has everything a FNM fan could want. There's heavy metal, soul, punk. Even a little of country and blues! Mike Patton's voice could not get any better, even when he's just screaming nonsense. And just because Jim Martin (the original guitarist) left FNM, does not affect how great this album is. The only problems I have, however, is the song "Star A.D." and when I recieved this album, there was this strange dried-up substance on the back of the album. I don't know what it is, and I don't want to find out.
November 28, 2007

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