Begin the Autotheism: A Review of The Latest Album from The Faceless

You know you are in hallowed grounds when your name is in the same sentence as Wintersun, Necrophagist, and Duke Nukum Forever.

Artist: The Faceless
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Album: Autotheism
Label: Sumerian Records
Release: August 14, 2012

Except this time, The Faceless, are here to play. Autotheism is here, and it is every bit we have come to love from this superstar band with quite a knack for the galaxy. Into the album, the first thing you notice is the style. It is far from the technical death metal they have been labeled as. In fact this is practically its own fusion of progressive elements with impeccable tech-death. The band is not afraid to add in clean vocals to further accentuate the growls nor are they afraid to slow down the song for a smooth guitar solo which cuts between a calming jazz session and vicious shredding. The band transitions countless times in each song, showing elements of progressive metal if not for a flash before being thrown back into the technical style we have grown attached to.

Each song on the album is differing to their own extent. Of the albums, this is probably the most varied but most creative to date. It is hard to single one song out since they all are excellent in their own way. Easily, the best part of the album is the interaction between the strings work of Michael Keene and Wes Hauch, the bass work of Evan Brewer, the crisp vocals of Geoffrey Ficco, and the surgical precision by the drummer Lyle Cooper. The interplay is so intimate you feel a sort of connection to the music and are entranced.

This is a beautiful mix of prog and technical death brought together in the most elegant and mind-blowing way. This is album is far from any other album I have heard in a good while. Due to its incredible underlying sound and its surgically precise group of musicians behind this album, it is fair to say it was worth the wait. Even longer and I would be still as satisfied, if not for the riffs of Keene alone.

Depending on the metalhead, the diversity of the album may be a turn off. Those who are expecting 30 minutes of shredding and guttural growls look elsewhere. This album has plenty of clean vocals, electronic sounds and vocals, and slow jazz-esque breakdowns. For that, many will think this album has lost its metal image as instilled by Akeldama. The way I look at it is progression. As the band matured, they acquired a mature and unique sound. This album will undoubtedly be recognized as the Faceless and that is a wonderful image to preserve. The progressive elements really allow you to appreciate the musicianship and the talent of the artist you normally would not hear and for that element of musicianship, I felt that they were ready to sacrifice a sense of raw brutality and speed for a show of grace and ability.

The production quality of course is great. The blending between the music was hard at times where the band was slightly overshadowed by the usually contrasting transitions. Besides these minor blending issues, the only issue I can see is that the album is far tamer then Akeldama. Granted Planetary Duality was a show of the unique styles, but some still hoped and expected a brutal, pure tech-death song in the album and unfortunately there is none. But in my opinion, it was replaced with something better in terms of their unique style. However, if you come with a tabula rasa, you will have no issue getting into the new styles.

This album is near perfection. This is not narcissism, it’s autotheism.