The Faceless – Teeth of the Divine

The Faceless – Autotheism

Jordan Itkowitz — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 11:30:00 +0000

It’s been four years since the release of The Faceless’ ambitious last album, Planetary Duality. That’s plenty of time for some kind of musical or sonic metamorphosis (and plenty of band member change-ups as well), and on their new concept album Autotheism, the band truly spreads its mutant wings. I was impressed with Akeldama, their debut back in 2006 – certainly more than some of The Faceless’ unfocused, breakdown-happy tech/core peers – based on the smart-yet-still-spastic songwriting, strafing electronic elements and some wacky but balanced Faith No More-style antics. Planetary Duality was more of a focused and knotty tech-death odyssey – and bonus, no breakdowns – with a heavy dose of Cynic (particularly in those vocoded vocals). Leading up to Autotheism, the band has folded in some new influences, most notably Opeth. The result is a quantum leap forward for The Faceless.

After a warbling Danny Elfman-esque intro (shades of Batman or Beetlejuice), opening track “Create” unfolds with a moody duet of new death vocalist Geoffrey Ficco’s growls and Michael Keene’s sullen croon – a damn fine Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) impression if I’ve ever heard one. That’s just the prelude to the stunning “Emancipation,” a glorious double-helix of tech-death staccato and intricate prog keyboards, tangled with strands of tinkling piano and Keene’s confident cleans. (We’ll skip past the ambient interlude for now – crying babies? really?) Halfway through the track, a soaring and crunchy Opeth riff takes center stage, with Keene’s confident vocals ably downshifting from their Mike Patton highs to a smooth and harmonized Akerfeldt croon. The music follows suit, calmly settling into a mellow, soulful and bluesy interlude that would be perfectly at home on any album from My Arms, Your Hearse to Watershed. Then we close out with more virtuoso prog-keyboards, tech-death paroxysms and blazing solos. One of the high points of the year for me so far.

At the other end of the album, the epic closer, “In Solitude,” also wears its Opeth emotions on its sleeve. This one starts as a ballad, with chiming acoustic guitars and Keene’s lush and plaintive vocal (seriously, the guy is proving himself to be one hell of a vocal chameleon) before the track coarsens and brings the metal. Again, the Opeth impression is spot-on, but just to throw another reference at you, I hear a good chunk of Extol in there as well – particularly in the repeated vocal refrain.

All of these references aren’t to say that The Faceless is well, faceless – slipping on other guises and skins as casually as Hannibal Lecter would don a freshly-carved mask. Quite the opposite; I’m very impressed at how ably the band has incorporated these influences into their already focused and rippling tech-death assault to create something fresh and exciting in the genre.

As for the rest of the album, it’s mostly terrific, though it’s not without a few odd and jarring choices. First among them is in “Deconsecrate,” the follow-up to “Emancipation,” and the closer to the first thematic section of the album. Most of “Deconsecrate” is a bullet-hell shooter disguised as a metal track, and it’s armed with some brilliant power-ups: a demonic Gregorian chant here, a gorgeous sax solo there, and a fantastic, proggy guitar solo at the 4:50 mark. However, there’s also an annoying, dreamy calliope that breezes in at several moments (accompanied by an overly elastic and loungy Mike Patton vocal impression). Sorry, but to me, there’s nothing so hackneyed or overplayed as ‘evil circus’ in prog or metal, and so whenever I hear it, I want to punch a clown.

“Accelerated Evolution” is a strong track all around (Spawn of Possession, you should be writing songs like this, dammit) and one that uses Keene’s clean, Mike Patton-inspired vocals to great effect. The follow-up, “The Eidolon Reality,” however, does not – its crooned chorus is schmaltzy and overcooked, and is repeated way too often for my tastes. Shame, ‘cause the rest of the track features the album’s most psychotic and scribbly guitarwork. The first half of “Ten Billion Years” is somewhat of a dull lurch, but the second half, with more clean vocals and progressive explorations, is much better. And “Hymn of Sanity,” two tracks later, is a dizzying assault that should have been at least 3-4 minutes longer.

Despite those nitpicks, Autotheism has been on steady repeat for the past two weeks or so, and at this point, I’m confident it will show up on my top ten for 2012. If not for a few of those odd gimmicks and off moments (babies, calliopes, one track that should have been way longer, and another ruined by an obnoxious chorus), it could even have been my #1. The mix of competent, controlled and dazzling tech-death with swirling prog and a damn fine Opeth impression satisfies so much of what I find exciting in metal, and the fact that these songs are just so damn listenable (for tech death, at least), rather than jumbling together in a overstuffed mess, is quite the achievement. Gorod beware – you’ve got The Faceless right on your heels.

Faceless, The – Planetary Duality

Erik T — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:52:23 +0000

Though I was very impressed with this young act’s debut, Akeldama back in 2006, my recent experience of them at this year’s Summer Slaughter, and exposure to their new material left me somewhat unimpressed. Whether it was the lack of full time keyboard player, the more experimental material, or just an off night in a bad sound venue, I came away expecting Planetary Duality to not be as good as the debut.

I was wrong.

Fully shedding any sort of deathcore stigma, The Faceless have delivered a tech death album that with its Sci-Fi themes and programming as well as use of robotic/vocoder vocals and clean vocals imbues ghosts of Cynic and Nocturnus and stands toe to toe with this years stellar tech death releases, though I’m sure most die hard death metal fans will still approach with caution due to the bands age and looks.

And that would be a crying shame as technically, this lot are as skilled as anyone in tech death right now, obviously learning from their stints with Necrophagist, Decrepit Birth and such and honing their skill as well as their ability to take this skills and craft complex, cerebral but brutal death metal that’s less chaotic and random than the powerful but ADD riddled debut. No breakdowns, no At The Gates galloping, just forceful, intricate and superbly played technical death metal.

However, I have a couple of minor gripes; again, the album hovers around thirty minutes, and I’ll admit the clean crooning of guitarist Michael Keene (who is also responsible for and excellent production job) that surface on a couple of tracks (“Coldly Calculated Design”, “Sons of Belial”, “Planetary Duality II : A Prophecies Fruition”) are pretty forced and unnecessary, almost derailing otherwise brilliant performances and song writing. However, sheer force and technical savagery of “Prison Born”, “The Ancient Ceremony”, “Xeno Christ”,and even the melodic/Sci-fi circus throes of “Legion of the Serpent” with their slight injections of Sci Fi synths and oppressive complexity far outweigh those moments making for a top notch album from a fast rising young band with a very bright future.

DECREPIT BIRTH announce US tour w/The Faceless!

Erik T — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:01:43 +0000

CA’s brutal tech-death metallers DECREPIT BIRTH will be embarking on a North American tour with THE FACELESS this Fall. Founding guitarist Matt Sotelo commented:

“We are very happy to announce that DECREPIT BIRTH will be on tour with THE FACELESS beginning October 17th through November 22nd, throughout the US and Canada! Along with ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, VEIL OF MAYA and NEURAXIS. We are planning on a great tour and we’re happy to be playing some new material from our upcoming album. Look forward to some amazing shows, and we can’t wait to get out there and see our fans again!

Also, be sure to check for updates on our new album! The band is currently busy writing and we are very happy with the direction of the new material, it will really showcase the evolution of DECREPIT BIRTH. Keep checking our official website for more information!”

PLANETARY DUALITY TOUR
THE FACELESS, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, DECREPIT BIRTH, VEIL OF MAYA, NEURAXIS
10/17/08 Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA

10/18/08 The Sets – Tempe, AZ

10/19/08 Launch Pad – Albuquerque, NM

10/20/08 The Marquis Theatre – Denver, CO

10/21/08 Oz Café – Wichita, KS

10/22/08 Rockstar Nightclub – St. Louis, MO

10/23/08 Mojoe’s – Tinley Park, IL

10/24/08 Elva’s – South Bend, IN

10/25/08 Skateland – Westland, MI

10/26/08 The Penny Arcade – Rochester, NY

10/27/08 Blender @ The Gramercy Theater – New York, NY

10/28/08 L’Anti – Quebec City, QC – CANADA

10/29/08 Underworld – Montreal, QC – CANADA

10/30/08 The Reverb – Toronto, ON – CANADA

10/31/08 Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH

11/01/08 Broad Street Ministry – Philadelphia, PA

11/02/08 Jaxx – West Springfield, VA

11/03/08 Volume 11 – Raleigh, NC

11/04/08 The Masquerade (Downstairs) – Atlanta, GA

11/05/08 Crowbar – Tampa, FL

11/07/08 Java Jazz – Houston, TX

11/08/08 White Rabbit – San Antonio, TX

11/09/08 Ridglea Theater – Ft. Worth, TX

11/11/08 The Rock – Tucson, AZ

11/12/08 The Key Club – Hollywood, CA

11/13/08 The Exit – Fresno, CA

11/14/08 Oakland Metro – Oakland, CA

11/15/08 Riverdale Grange – Roseburg, OR

11/16/08 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA

11/17/08 Satyricon – Portland, OR

11/20/08 Jerry’s Pizza & Pub – Bakersfield, CA

11/21/08 The Boardwalk – Orangevale, CA

11/22/08 SOMA – San Diego, CA

Faceless, The – Akeldama

Erik T — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:09:19 +0000

In a year full of technical death metal excellence from the likes of Decapitated, Gorod, Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession, along come a group of six kids from Encino, California and fuck everything up.
I’m truly starting to believe that anything that gets labeled as “deathcore” or “metalcore” is now becoming strictly due to the band question’s age or looks. For example, much like All Shall Perish and Beneath the Massacre, The Faceless’s six fresh faced barely out of their teens will undoubtedly get thrown into the deathcore pack, but the fact remins Akeldama is a technical death metal record through and through. A Fucking good one at that.
So what if I tried to sell this record to both Hot ‘Between the Buried and Me’ Topic core fans as well as grizzled death metal 30 somethings. So to sell this what if I grudgingly sold this as a supposed ‘deathcore’ record for you kids reading, but for you gnarly long hairs out there then told you that the death element wasn’t some chaotic, noisy rumblings but a tightly honed and progressive form of complexity more akin to Necrophagist? And that their were Nocturnus like synths? And that the skill level of these guys was on par with the bands mentioned above? You’d better fucking act interested.
Granted a breakdown here an there as well as a couple of unsure ATG melody lines, oddly quirky and squealing moments (i.e. “All Dark Graves”, “The Ghost of A Stranger”) almost hinder the band’s attempt at real death metal respectability but still manage an All Shall Perish level of arpeggio laced, pummeling brilliance, but overall, when assaulted by complexly ferocious tracks like the ballistic opener “An Autopsy”, “Pestilence” (with some very cool clean/female vocals), the more lurching “Horizons of Chaos, pt 1; Oracle of the Onslaught” and “Horizons of Chaos, Pt 2; Hypocrisy”, the crushing “Leica”, and ultra proggy title track there’s hardly a single hint of ‘core’ to be heard amid the ultra impressive skills and compositions. And truth be told, the very thin strains of core-ish melody give the album and more memorable than many of their peers (“Lieca”).
At a little over 30 minutes, Akeldama is a tad short, but delivers the good in that time and I really expect great things from this lot in the very near future (and I’m betting on a bigger label).