Faith No More
United States · formed 1983 · last active 2025
San Francisco shape-shifters who smuggled funk, hip-hop, synth-pop, thrash, lounge and film-score bombast into stadium-sized alternative metal, peaking commercially with The Real Thing (1989) and creatively with the gloriously perverse Angel Dust (1992). When Mike Patton was poached from Mr. Bungle in 1988, the band became the primary launchpad for his sprawling avant-garde universe — making Faith No More the closest thing this atlas has to a mainstream gateway drug. Few bands did more to convince metal that genre borders were optional.
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
MEMBERS
- Mike Pattonvocals· also in Dead Cross, Fantômas, Mondo Cane, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, Tomahawk
- Billy Gouldbass
- Roddy Bottumkeyboards
- Mike Bordindrums
- Jim Martinlead guitar
CONNECTIONS
- Dead Crosspath →
Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton sings in the hardcore supergroup Dead Cross, which released its debut album in August 2017. source ↗
- Fantômaspath →
Mike Patton fronted Faith No More and formed Fantômas in the wake of that band's breakup. source ↗
- House of Haydukpath →
Billy Gould (Faith No More) is credited as a core performing member, playing bass, on House of Hayduk's City of Quartz (2012, Koolarrow). source ↗
- Mondo Canepath →
Mike Patton fronts Faith No More (1988–1998, 2009–2021, 2026–present) and is the sole voice of Mondo Cane. source ↗
- Mr. Bunglepath →
Mike Patton fronts both bands; he joined Faith No More as lead vocalist in January 1989 while remaining Mr. Bungle's singer. source ↗
- Peeping Tompath →
Mike Patton, lead vocalist of Faith No More (1988–1998, 2009–2021, 2026–), leads Peeping Tom; the project is called his most mainstream-accessible work since Faith No More. source ↗
- Secret Chiefs 3path →
Trey Spruance recorded guitar with Faith No More on their 1995 album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime before leading Secret Chiefs 3. source ↗
- Tomahawkpath →
Tomahawk frontman Mike Patton is the singer of Faith No More. source ↗
- Düreforsögpath →
Signed to Kool Arrow Records, the label founded by Faith No More bassist Billy Gould; Engine Machine (2002) was released on it (cat. KACA 011). source ↗
- Düreforsögpath →
Billy Gould (Faith No More) played bass as a guest and mixed Düreforsög's Engine Machine (2002). source ↗
- System of a Downpath →
Faith No More confirmed (July 2026) an Australia/New Zealand tour directly supporting System of a Down, with dates planned for January-February 2027. source ↗
- Fantômaspath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Fantômas's "Wunderkammer" (2014, Design [Package]) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Melt-Bananapath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Melt-Banana's "Cactuses Come In Flocks" (1999, Artwork) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Melvinspath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Melvins's "Lizzy" (1994, Layout) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Mr. Bunglepath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Mr. Bungle's "California" (1999, Layout, Graphic Design) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Napalm Deathsatellitepath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Napalm Death's "Napalm Death / Melt-Banana" (2016, Design [Cover Design], Illustration) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Titan to Tachyonspath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Titan to Tachyons's "Cactides" (2025, Layout, Graphic Design, Design, Design Concept) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Tomahawkpath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Tomahawk's "Stone Letter" (2012, Layout) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Toolpath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Tool's "Lateralus" (2001, Design) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsantpath →
Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Mackie Osborne (Discogs artist id 515251): Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant's "Sister Phantom Owl Fish" (2004, Design) and Faith No More's "Superhero" (2015, Layout), same Discogs artist id confirmed on both releases. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Mackie Osborne is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
- A Perfect Circlepath →
Shared label roster: Music on Vinyl, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Boredomspath →
Shared label roster: Reprise Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Fantômaspath →
Shared label roster: Ipecac Recordings, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Fear Factorypath →
Shared label roster: X5 Music Group, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Helmetsatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Epic Soundtrax, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Killing Jokepath →
Shared label roster: Liberation Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Mastodonpath →
Shared label roster: Warner Bros. Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Melvinspath →
Shared label roster: X5 Music Group, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Mr. Bunglepath →
Shared label roster: London Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Napalm Deathsatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Globus International, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Nine Inch Nails (Ghosts era)path →
Shared label roster: Polydor, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Nine Inch Nails (industrial era)path →
Shared label roster: Polydor, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Opethpath →
Shared label roster: Warner Music, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Primuspath →
Shared label roster: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Soulflysatellitepath →
Shared label roster: X5 Music Group, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Testamentpath →
Shared label roster: Rhino, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- The Jesus Lizardpath →
Shared label roster: Warner Bros. Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- The Mars Voltapath →
Shared label roster: Mercury Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- Patton-verseEI 17TomahawkTechnicalTheatricalHardcore
Tomahawk is the Nashville-formed supergroup that pairs Mike Patton's shape-shifting vocals with Duane Denison's razor-wire guitar, born in 1999 when the two started swapping tapes after a Mr. Bungle tour stop. With John Stanier's piston-precise drumming and bass from Kevin Rutmanis (later Trevor Dunn), the band deals in taut, noirish alternative/avant-garde metal that splits the difference between The Jesus Lizard's angular menace and Patton's cinematic weirdness. Five albums on Patton's Ipecac Recordings — from the 2001 debut through 2021's Tonic Immobility — make it one of the label's flagship acts.
- Bay Area / SGMEI 10Free Salamander ExhibitTechnicalTheatricalHardcore
Free Salamander Exhibit is an avant-rock band from Oakland, California, formed by former members of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Comprising roughly four-fifths of that group's lineup plus additional players, the band pursues an art-prog / rock-in-opposition sound built around an arsenal of homemade instruments alongside guitars, bass, and drums. Their debut album, Undestroyed, was released December 13, 2016 on the Web of Mimicry label.
- Patton-verseEI 11OxbowTheatricalTechnicalHardcore
Oxbow were a San Francisco experimental/noise-rock band founded in 1988, built on the partnership of vocalist Eugene S. Robinson and multi-instrumentalist and composer Niko Wenner. Their music blends noise rock, avant-garde jazz, musique concrete and blues into caustic, paranoid soundscapes framed by Robinson's high, anguished voice. Their eighth and final album, Love's Holiday (2023), was their first for Ipecac Recordings; the band dissolved in 2024.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 16Don SalsaTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
Don Salsa was an experimental avant-prog/avant-metal band formed in 1993 while its members were in high school in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, active until 1997. The band recorded a single album, 'Koolaide Moustache in Jonestown,' released May 21, 1997, recorded over nearly three years in a warehouse on a primitive digital multi-track recorder, with an opening track exceeding 30 minutes. Core members Tim Smolens and Jason Schimmel went on to form Estradasphere, and Schimmel later became a founding member of Atomic Ape and an active member of Secret Chiefs 3.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16Celebrity Sex ScandalTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
Celebrity Sex Scandal is an avant-garde metal band from San Antonio, Texas, formed in 2011 by guitarist Greg Combs after the dissolution of Dog Fashion Disco, effectively continuing that band's eclectic funk/ska/metal/pop hybrid with a horn section. Debut album Derivative (2013) was Kickstarter-funded, followed by Integral (2015), The Fundamental (2020) — which featured Dog Fashion Disco alumni John Ensminger and Jeff Siegel — and Convergence of Infinite Sequences (2023) on Razor To Wrist Records.
- Cavalera / GojiraEI 19EmpalotTechnicalTheatricalHardcore
Empalot were a French experimental band formed in the Landes in 1998 by Gojira's Joe and Mario Duplantier with friends from Joe's high-school thrash band. Self-described as "terroir metal," they welded alternative metal, jazz fusion, funk rock and avant-garde noise to burlesque, self-deprecating theatre, with members costumed as axes, clouds and flowers on stage. Conceived as the festive antithesis of Gojira, the group toured France between 1999 and 2004 and released a single studio album, Tous aux Cèpes (2002), before going on hiatus. The Duplantier brothers performed under the aliases Vensceslas Podoldo and Daniel Pestous.
- UnaffiliatedEI 8MastodonTechnicalHardcoreTheatrical
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band formed in Atlanta in 2000, fusing sludge and stoner metal with progressive rock, hardcore aggression and jazz-influenced drumming into an ambitious, concept-driven sound. Their breakthrough Leviathan (2004), a song cycle built around Moby-Dick, established them as one of the most original and influential American metal bands of the 21st century, and later records like Crack the Skye (2009) pushed further into psychedelic prog territory. The classic four-piece held together for 25 years until guitarist Brent Hinds split with the band in March 2025 and died in a motorcycle accident that August; three of the four members trade lead vocals, giving the band its distinctive multi-voiced attack.
- ZornEI 15BucketheadTechnicalTheatricalJazzy
Buckethead (Brian Patrick Carroll) is an American guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area, famous for performing in a white mask and a KFC bucket and for one of the most prolific solo discographies in music, numbering hundreds of albums. His playing spans thrash, fingerpicking, slap and avant-improv, and he conceives much of his output as soundtracks for rides at his imaginary amusement park, Bucketheadland. He released his 1992 debut on John Zorn's Avant label and that same year became the guitarist of Bill Laswell's supergroup Praxis.
- UnaffiliatedEI 11FlagmanTechnicalTheatrical
Flagman is a funk-metal/avant-metal band founded in 2015 in Orlando, Florida by bassist-vocalist Sam Stewart and guitarist Cody Singleton, later relocating to Seattle, Washington. Their sound centers on Stewart's Les Claypool-indebted slap bass and theatrical, character-voiced vocals, wearing clear influences from Primus, Mr. Bungle, System of a Down, and Faith No More across releases like 'Thank You, Come Again' (2022), 'Tastes Incredible' (2024), and the industrial-tinged EP 'Before The Blast' (2025). Press coverage has also compared their more recent, blunter material to 'funky Chat Pile.'
- Patton-verseEI 8The Jesus LizardTechnicalHardcoreTheatrical
Formed in Austin in 1987 and relocated to Chicago in 1989, The Jesus Lizard perfected a blueprint of noise-rock menace: David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly's lurching, hydraulic rhythm section, Duane Denison's wiry precision guitar, and David Yow howling from deep in the mix like, in one critic's words, 'a kidnap victim trying to howl through the duct tape over his mouth.' Their Steve Albini-recorded Touch and Go albums Goat (1991) and Liar (1992) stand among the most significant noise rock records of the era, and a split single with Nirvana briefly brushed them against the mainstream. After disbanding in 1999 and reuniting for tours from 2009 onward, they released Rack in 2024, their first album in 26 years.