Fantômas (band)

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Background information
Origin	California, USA
Genre(s)	Alternative metal
Years active	1998–present
Label(s)	Ipecac Recordings
Associated acts	The Melvins Slayer Faith no More Mr. Bungle Peeping Tom Tomahawk
Website	Official Site
Members
Mike Patton Buzz Osborne Trevor Dunn Dave Lombardo

Fantômas is an Alternative metal band. The group is named after Fantômas, a villain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I.

1 History
2 Style
3 Members
4 Discography
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The group was formed when singer Mike Patton composed a handful of spasmic, experimental metal songs after the collapse of his earlier group, Faith No More. Patton then sent the original compositions to his friends, hoping to form a performing group: guitarist Buzz Osborne (of The Melvins), Trevor Dunn (of Mr. Bungle) and drummer Igor Cavalera (of Sepultura). Cavalera declined the offer, but recommended whom he thought would be perfect for the project: Dave Lombardo of Slayer. Lombardo accepted and thus was formed Patton's own supergroup.^{[citation needed]}

In summer of 2005 the band toured Europe with Terry Bozzio on drums, because Lombardo was on tour with Slayer. Lombardo returned to the band for the final dates of the tour, which concluded on September 15, 2005, however, there are rumours that Bozzio will perform drumming duties on a future Fantômas album.[1]

On May 13, 2006, Patton revealed to Billboard.com that a fifth Fantômas album has been planned. Of the album, Patton says "The next record is going to be an all-electronic affair. It's going to take some creative planning on how to record it and execute it, but there will be no acoustic instruments on it whatsoever. We're pretty much about to go into hibernation mode. I need to, once I have a little time, go back to the drawing board, and start writing the next one."[2]

[edit] Style

Though rooted in heavy metal, their music actually touches on many different musical genres, and is noted for its offbeat sense of humor; one critic has dubbed their style "dada-metal" [3] Critic Greg Prato describes their music as "completely original ... especially when compared to the blah and predictable alt-rock of the late '90s."[4] Patton rarely sings conventional lyrics with the group, preferring his own bizarre style of voice music or scat singing.

Fantomas songs are often discordant and tuneless, using feedback and pure noise, and they could easily be described as progressive noise. However, they are not a pure noise band as they do have concrete beats and melodies in most of their songs. They are a unique combination of noise and progressive psychedelia.

They also arrange albums around strange concepts or themes:

Fantômas (Amenaza Al Mundo) was based on science fiction comic books, with every song simply given a page number (Page 1, Page 2 etc.).
The Director's Cut was a series of reinterpretations of motion picture theme songs. Some versions are rather loyal to the sources (such as the eerie lullabye from The Night of the Hunter), while others offer radical takes on the music (such the theme from The Godfather tackled as a thrash metal song).
Delìrium Còrdia was one extended song, with the concept of surgery without anesthesia.^{[citation needed]}
Suspended Animation (Recorded in the same sessions as Delìrium Còrdia) is an album of twisted cartoon music, each track named after a day in the month of April 2005. (Friday The 8th, etc.).

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

Album Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	Catalog Number
	April 26, 1999	Fantômas	Ipecac Recordings	IPC-001
	July 9, 2001	The Director's Cut	Ipecac Recordings	IPC-018
	April 1, 2002	Millennium Monsterwork 2000	Ipecac Recordings	IPC-019
	January 27, 2004	Delìrium Còrdia	Ipecac Recordings	IPC-045
	June 14, 2005	Suspended Animation	Ipecac Recordings	IPC-065
	August, 2005	Split 5" Vinyl / 3" CD with Melt-Banana	Unhip Records