Is there any figure that was once regarded as a Nineties alt rock icon who's had as boldly adventurous a post-Clinton era musical journey as Mike Patton? Anyone who still only thinks, "You want it all but you can't have it" when they hear Patton's name has been checked out for some time. Quite apart from Faith No More, who were themselves far more lefty than the "Epic" masses gave them credit for, Patton has stretched his musical muscles far and wide: from Mr. Bungle, to Fantômas, his bizarro metal outfit with Buzz Osborne of The Melvins, to work with The Dillinger Escape Plan and Sepultura to many collabos with the great John Zorn, Patton has marched to a decidedly modern drummer.

Now he's taken on a modern classic, at least in avant-garde circles: Laborintus II is one of the great, challenging works of the late Italian composer Luciano Berio, first performed in 1965, on the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's birth. The piece's unhinged libretto is by Dante scholar Edoardo Sanguineti, and Patton's performance comes from the 2010 Holland Festival in Amsterdam. Backed by the Brussels-based Ictus Ensemble and the Dutch choir Nederlands Kamerkoor, Patton doesn't just pull it off - the result is stunning. 

A man who earned his place in rock history, then went on gain one in other, wildly disparate places -- discover Laborintus II from Mike Patton, with Luciano Berio.