Fantastic Planet

I’ve heard this record before and didn’t get what the fuss was about. Listening to it again today, I’m still not seeing it. It feels aggressively average to me. It’s competently played mid 90’s alt-rock, sure, but I don’t feel like it has enough originality to warrant moving it into the cult-classic status that the record has obtained. Not to say it doesn’t have its moments, like “Another Space Song” and “Stuck On You” (in fact, the end of this record is quite a bit more interesting than the first half) but overall, it sort of seems like Failure is chasing something rather than blazing a trail.

It's just alright for me. Sounds like they were trying hard to be the next Nirvana. 3 stars.

Source material for APC and some underlying influences. Somewhat boring though.

Album #37 (1001 challenge extended): "Fantastic Planet" by Failure (1996) "Fantastic Planet" is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Failure. Alternative rock, post-grunge, space rock and art rock are the Wiki-listed genres. The album had space rock themes and was well received critically although it failed to chart. The bandmembers included Ken Andrew's ( vocals, guitar, bass), Greg Edwards (guitar, bass, piano, percussion) and Kelllii Scott (drums). The album opens with "Saturday Saviour." The sounds of birds and other noises progresses to a slow rhythm guitar/bass which gets overlayed by a lead guitar. Drums kick in and there's a slow rock grind. An echoing guitar solo. Post-grunge for sure. "Smoking Umbrellas" has a higher pitched strumming post-punk guitar. A melodic bass and shuffling drums. An eerie piano and dark lyrics of existential dread. "Pitiful" combines post-punk and post-grunge. An urgent, slashing guitar with loud drums and a thumping bass. The vocals goes from whispering to loud as Andrews' sings of repeated disconnections in relationships. A ripping guitar solo too. "Another Space Song" begins with high-pitched eerie guitar notes. Very Slint-esque. The song builds. Yes, very space like. High-pitched piercing guitar notes highlight the first single "Stuck on You.'" The song heads into a more melodic hard rock song. He can't get past a previous relationship. Driving, grungy, grinding or post-punk guitar(s) lead the songs. An upfront melodic bass and impressive drumming. Andrews' vocals are like a more gruff Scott Weiland and more anxious. The lyrics are eerie and dark and about disillusionment, detachment and drugs. This album does sound of its mid to late 90's time frame and bands like Hum and Slint. But, I really like those bands and that music so I also really liked this album. So, a strong recommendation for those fans of post-punk, grunge (post-grunge) or just plain hard rock. 4.5 out of 5

Fantastic Planet passed me by completely in the 90s, which is a shame because it would have landed perfectly then and it still lands now. Apparently Failure were critically appreciated but commercially invisible, and broke up almost immediately after. They sit squarely in that mid-90s alternative rock tradition with dense, layered guitar textures, a narcotic heaviness and production that rewards headphones, without sounding like anyone else in particular. The range across the album is wider than the sound suggests on first listen, and the guitar work throughout is genuinely rich. An incredibly solid record and thanks to the submitter for getting this band on my radar.

Grunge adjacent cult classic

I’m not a big grunge fan, but this was actually really great! I love how dynamic the genres were :) - 8/10

A little backloaded but still good all the way through

That bass tone on Pillowhead is sick. Another Space song is cool. A very cool album, though maybe 20 years too late for me to find. super awesome though.

I long thought that any Grunge band couldn't impress me anymore, but I've found something different in Failure and this album's probably their best. I don't know if I would've added it to the list, but it's quite fun!

An incredibly dense, massive LP, reminds me of a darker, sludgier Hum in many ways. The core instrumental sound (or wall thereof) is striking, the heavy guitar interlocking perfectly with the pounding rhythm section to create tracks as dense as a concrete slab. The album's only weakness is too much of a good thing – there's a few repetitive tracks thrown in, cut out the fat and this would easily be a 5. Awesome add, we need some heavier 90s' era grunge/sludge on the list for sure.

This album kinda pisses me off, because how are you going to have two of the best songs ever written ("Another Space Song" and "Stuck on You") and then have the rest of the album just be really okay, 3/5 grunge. Imagine if halfway through "Songs In The Key of Life" Stevie Wonder just randomly started farting into the microphone. This is the opposite version of that.

Vaikea sanoa tästä sen enempää kuin että ysärirockiahan se.

Good enough

Decent

I like quite a lot of this. When I say quite a lot of it, I mean about forty minutes of it. Given it's 67 minutes long, I guess that's just over half. The shoegazey, over-long stuff really should have been cut. There's easily a great forty minute album in this - I'd possibly even extend to 45, because hey, leeway, but over an hour? Ouch.

Alternative rock, post-grunge, space rock, art rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Sure sounds like 1996 rock

Late era grungey rock, would have done well a few years earlier

Saw the cover and inwardly groaned but it's actually ok. Solid tunes and varied enough to be interesting.

Solid alt-rock of this particular era and genre, but there is a lot of this kind of thing out there. A little persistently down-tempo for me, and lyrically it never really grabbed me. Still, some interesting sounds, I certainly didn't dislike it.

Yeah Fantastic Planet is just fairly forgettable grunge, 2/5.

I don’t think this brought anything new to the my brain disco and nothing stood out I’m afraid

Wtf, eh