Not at all, imho. But it's quite apparent that he's always five minutes late, as someone (funnily) said. However, I think that he manages to come up with something of his own, even if the ideas are someone else's (which they are!)
I agree that Patton's music is derivative, and zorn is an obvious source of inspiration. It's true, MP ain't no genius that breaks new ground. He's just a hell of a musician,. with a great sense for melody and sound. And the fact that such excellent bands, as Fantomas or Bungle, are possible in convention (more or less) created by Zorn only shows JZ's greatness: his ideas aren't one-offs, there's room ror genuine invention. The Fantomas show in spring was incredible. The painkiller one I saw some three weeks ago was uninteresting in comparison, in fact, it was pretty average. (I do not mean to diss Painkiller, just emphasize the quality of Patton's work) Marcin G.