Fantômas

The Director’s Cut (Ipecac)
by Lex Marburger

You pretty much know what to expect from this. Fantômas is a supergroup, if you will, with Mr. Bungle’s Mike Patton and Trevor Dunn, Melvin’s Buzz, and ex-Slayer Dave Lombardo. So it’s gonna be loud, weird, and have a lot of changing tempos and styles. Like a more metal-ish Naked City. And goofier. It’s good that on The Director’s Cut they chose to cover movie themes like “The Godfather,” “The Omen,” “Twin Peaks,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” etc. That at least gives them melody. It may sound like I don’t like these guys, but that’s not quite true.

They are fantastic musicians, and when they go for noisy, they kick serious ass. However, I’ve never really been into Patton’s falsetto when he actually tries to “sing.” His screams, moans, cackles, and yells are much more entertaining. Plus, for all the “chaos” they want to represent, they’re pretty predictable. They play soft and gentle music, you know it’s gonna shift in an instant to thrash metal. They play loud music, you know they’re gonna shift gears into jazz. Or bossa nova. Granted, when, and exactly what are still a mystery, and the mere fact that they can actually do it is fun to watch, but it gets a little tiresome after a while, y’know? By now, the most shocking thing Fantômas could do would be to play one style of music from beginning to end, for three and a half minutes. Ready? Go!
(PO Box 1197 Alameda, CA 94501)