Fantômas: Amenaza al Mundo

Brian Eno once pointed out that under some circumstances, heavy metal could possess the same relaxing properties as ambient music. It's the same principle that makes white noise so soothing for some: At a certain extreme, music just becomes more background noise, and ultimately just sounds. That certainly seems to be the intent behind Fantômas, a new supergroup featuring former Faith No More singer Mike Patton, former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osborne of the seminal sludge-rock band Melvins, and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn. A project like this one was inevitable for Patton: Beginning with his work in the cartoonishly over-the-top Mr. Bungle and eventually with the underrated Faith No More album Angel Dust, Patton made his allegiance to the John Zorn school of short-attention-span noise collage quite clear. Zorn produced Mr. Bungle's debut, Patton has released solo records full of vocal ejaculations on Zorn's Tzadik label, and Patton has occasionally substituted for Boredoms' Yamatsuka Eye in Zorn's phenomenal Carl Stalling/Napalm Death/film-noir tribute Naked City. Fantômas, though, is an entity with its own character. Instead of just cartoon-music cuts and John Barry cops, Amenaza al Mundo exhibits a healthy science-fiction obsession, as well, with Patton producing cool sound effects while Lombardo, Osborne, and Dunn pummel away. Snagging Lombardo was a coup: At his best, the drummer is his own Wall Of Sound, and like former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris—who went on to compose dark ambient music as Scorn—Lombardo makes the most of the opportunity by trying out new tricks. With 30 fragments spewed out in just over 40 minutes, Amenaza al Mundo blurs into a haze of metal riffs, but that's probably the point: The screeches, moans, and hardcore beats are as fun as they are funny, yet also perfectly suitable for hanging in the air like aural wallpaper.