California

For a few seconds, the Hawaiian guitar and plinking keyboards makes this resemble a High Llamas album. Then the rasping tones of Mike Patton kick in.

The intention behind the album seems to be to explore the stranger aspects of Californian culture, through a bizarre mixture of musical styles, from ’50s doowop (‘Pink Cigarrette’), mental mexicano (‘Ars Moriendi’), to Patton coming on like some kind of manic, Primus-influenced Beach Boy on ‘The Air-Conditioned Nightmare’.

Patton’s singing technique employs a variety of styles: in turn, crooning, booming Latin chanting, John Spencer blues explosions and an assortment of oddball noises, on songs full of cartoonish sound effects’. Unfortunately, not much of this is remotely listenable.

While California sounds like it was a lot of fun to make, it might have been better reserved for the amusement of the band’s close friends and family. Of novelty interest to Faith No More fans. Only.