Faith No More

Faith No More can be said to be the original poster boys for the weirding of heavy metal. After spending most of the ’80s blending punk-funk with thrashy hardcore, the Bay Area band achieved stardom with the 1990 hit “Epic.” Featuring Mr. Bungle singer, rapper, and sonic eccentric Mike Patton, the song’s throttling collision of power riffs, hip-hop, and Zappa-esque absurdism helped invent the basic programming language for not only alt-metal but rap metal and nu-metal as well. Their albums, including the 1992 landmark Angel Dust, grew progressively experimental. Songs like “Midlife Crisis” began to resemble genre-contorting grotesqueries that would make surrealist painter Salvador Dalí proud. With Faith No More (and Mr. Bungle) slipping into hiatus by the end of the ’90s, Patton focused his energies on the supergroups Fantômas and Tomahawk, as well as overseeing the underground imprint Ipecac Recordings. But Faith No More returned in 2015 with Sol Invictus, a record as bracingly strange as any in its catalog.