A divine blend of testosterone,adrenaline and musical genius

Review Score: (10/10)
I consider this to be one of the top ten greatest albums of all time.
This 1987 release is more than a decade ahead of its time with its blend of rap, metal and punk, with a soul and a power that blows away today's Limp Bizkits like so many dry, dead leaves.

Why do I love this album? For one, this band has an understanding of the principle of dynamics, something that even technically gifted bands like Metallica tend to lack. This album lifts you to the heights of head-banging ecstasy, fully on a level with newly-appreciated (thanks to Mike Myers) breakdown in Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody-- then it drops you into a cool pond of still water, where you lie, floating for a moment, before being grabbed by the collar and thrown against the wall. All of this is done within the space of a single song, using the most sophisticated and subtle musical devices.

Overall, this album is superior to the band's other efforts, in terms of musical greatness, technical execution and strength of emotion. It is one of those rare, seemingly divinely inspired and powerfully executed works of art that truly warrants the overused and now diluted term of "genius."

The only band today to which I could compare FNM on this album, at least in terms of emotional delivery and sheer power, is the mighty System Of A Down, who has achieved comparable moments of greatness, although not quite as consistently or thoroughly as FNM does on this tour de force. I do believe that SOAD has the potential to put out an album this good some day.

I won't state a position on the "which singer is better" issue. Mike Patton and Chuck Mosley have completely different styles and musical personalities. I will mention, though, that Chuck Mosley provides a raw insanity, beautifully balanced with a sense of humor. His sloppiness, juxtaposed against the iron-fist-in-a-silk-glove sound of the rest of the band, who are all phenomenally talented and expressive musicians, pushes the band to a level that is virtually impossible to achieve when all of the musicians are "smooth," technically precise performers. In other words, his imperfections are an essential part of the album's greatness.

Favorite tracks: The Crab Song and Chinese Arithmetic

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• The second album. 10 Gracious Melodies!!!
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