We already talked in this channel about the interest or disinterest of Mike Patton in terms of meaning behind his lyrics. So we could go straight to the point in that regard. I would like to go through all the cool parts this song has musically, which are quite a few!
What this song has that makes it one of my favorites of this album, and, by the way, KFAD is my favorite FNM album, which is not a small thing, is the fact that is very aggressive, KFAD has very good songs from which is known from, like Evidence and Take This Bottle. The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies turns up the level in that regard. Just How the guitar turns up the heat from the second one.
I would like to praise Gould for one thing, and it’s not the first time I do that here, I know. How Billy makes this melody before the pre-chorus. I know that he is not the only bass player that is capable to do that so nicely all by himself. But still, it’s nice to hear music with a good, capable bass player. This makes things more interesting. Disclaimer: in reality, Billy is not the only one that is playing an instrument in this part. Right in the back, there is a very subtle Roddy Button playing his hit hat. This is one of those touches that only creative drummers put to the table.
One thing that I think it’s characteristic of Trey Spruance is the ability or creating imaging with his guitar. And I know that here we have to give the credit also to the producer, engineering, and mixer of this album, Andy Wallace, but still. There are so many songs from Trey that he sounds like this, so I think he has some or a lot of responsibility in there.
You want to know what I admire about Mike Patton. Is the fact that he can sound like 6 different persons in the same song. That is cool right?
Check out the video above!