"Planetary duality" CD by The Faceless

by Björn Thorsten Jaschinski (29.01.2009) Deathcore - that’s an expression too limited for The Faceless: apart from the extreme brutality and technical prowess of the musicians, many nuances far away from blastbeats, shredding riffs and breakneck leads are the signature sound of the Californians. They look beyond their own noses and don’t hide their preference for Fusion and Pink Floyd-arrangements at all, at least in the guitar and bass department. Other than that, they are clearly inspired by Cynic’s milestone debut "Focus". Alongside "normal" and mostly understandable growling sounds, they also have contorted vocoder voices in their repertoire. This mechanic "robot" effect makes for a contrast which is even intensified by the calm intro "Shape shifters" (comparable to the instrumentals on the last Atheist album "Elements"). Axe man Michael Keene should hone his clean vocals a bit, though - he’ll be more convincing then. Very cool: a highspeed Black Metal attack in "Xenochrist". Hats off, folks!