Faith No More - Introduce Yourself (1987)^{Release ID: 270}

Very similar to their debut, same funky grooves, prominent keys and oddball lyrical delivery. The Funk influence is turned all the way up, and it even features some rapping (I assume from Chuck, but most of the members do backup/gang vocals as well). Overall, it’s more focused with better riffs and some good vocal melodies as well, but it’s no huge leap. Still very juvenile, mediocre Alternative Metal, great record for fun, not so much for a serious listen.

Gatekept

Let's just get this out of the way first, shall we? Chuck Mosley on this album sounds like a hobbling drunken man who randomly wandered into the studio and recorded vocals. He sounds like your estranged uncle you only see once a year during holidays belting out karaoke at his favorite local dive bar. He sounds like the fifth in line to be a Ramones reject.

With that over with, Faith No More's Introduce Yourself is certainly a strange album with a lot of conflicting ideas. At its core it feels like a slightly slower and more refined punk album with a plethora of funky bass riffs, but throws in rap and hip-hop influences plus some very 80's synth backings. While I find myself enjoying the straight up punk and funk elements that are accentuated by tracks like "Faster Disco", "Chinese Arithmetic", and "We Care a Lot", the rest of the production that accompanies it just kills all the momentum for me. Mosley's vocals hold up well when they go for driving riffs and melodies, but fall apart during the rap/hip-hop sections or when attempting to sound sincere. The strangely disinterested rapping and spoken word vocals in "The Crab Song", "Death March", and "Anne's Song" sound like they're supposed to be goofy, but they turn out to be too goofy for their own good. The 80's synth backings sometimes add to the goofiness, but otherwise give an interesting contrast to the well-produced and spacious bass and guitar riffs.

This album offers a lot of room for growth if you can get past the gatekeeper of Chuck Mosley, since there are some great bass riffs and choruses overall, but I sadly can't. After repeated listens Introduce Yourself doesn't get any more endearing or emotional, it just gets more annoying. The album is structured around and highlights Mosley's vocals, so it's difficult for me to really enjoy anything else that's going on. I think "awkward" is the best way to describe how Faith No More sound on this one. I'm left with a weird feeling of not knowing what I should have gotten out of any of this and not really wanting to go back to find out.