Do They Make Them Like They Used To? The Faceless & Replay Value

The Faceless

Was it Rhianna that said it best when she spouted the following profound utterance:

‘Come Mr. DJ song pon de replay’

Well no. Obviously it wasn’t but the point stands. Replay value in songs, and more to the point, replay value in albums is a priceless quality but one that is almost impossible to asses without the passage of time. Something the internet generation don’t have time for. They need quick points of reference in order to create new memes, find more imaginative places to put holes in their bodies to compliment their latest poorly placed tattoo and take copious amounts of light drugs and brightly coloured alcoholic drinks.

All I’ve achieved with the last few sentences is to show my own age and miserable character. Which is fine but totally beside the point. The point I’m edging slightly closer to by the second like the awkward charmer I am though is surrounding the replay value of many modern artists. This whole idea was brought to mind by the release of the rather stunning new music video by The Faceless for the track ‘Deconsecrate’ from the band’s latest album ‘Autotheism’.

The track is brilliant and, more to the point, the album itself is genuinely impressive. It’s a real step forward for the band musically and develops their sound to a much more textured sonic pallet when compared to their modern death metal peers. I listened to the album repeatedly during my review of it on its release late last year. My praise of the record was considered and I think well deserved. I stand by it. But I haven’t listened to it in it’s entirety since then. In fact, I’m not sure I listened to a single track off the record in its entirety since then until the video dropped and reminded me as to the band’s genuine quality.

Of course you could take the point of view that it is somewhat too early to really asses the albums replay value since it is still so new a release. On the other hand I maintain that an albums immediate replay value is found within the first few months of your possession of it. If its only a few listens in that short a period while its new and fresh and still not disgusted by the sight of your naked body then chances are its not going to put out more as time goes on.

So what’s causing the lack of replay value for me when it comes to this album in particular? Because now I consider it its a parallel with many albums released over the last few years that I do sincerely highly rate but rarely listen to.  Is it a sign of the times? I’m tempted to say no because genius though he is, Prince has never proven himself to be quite that clairvoyant. On the other hand can you really doubt a man with facial hair THAT well maintained?

Is it the quality of the songs on the album? I certainly can’t say that it is. Sure they’re reasonably complex pieces of often darkly aggressive music but instrumentally the band are as tight as they come and everything is well paced throughout. To again compare them to their modern death metal peers, the band are exhilarating and a breath of fresh air. The long songs and their odd structures and ebb and flows between progressive moments and the straight ahead traditional death metal elements could be off putting for some but I revisit the entirety of the Faith No More back catalog nearly daily and they provided a much more edgy and mind fuck of a combination of sounds than The Faceless ever have and probably ever will.

Is it the album’s production? Are we just more likely to listen to stuff that sounds big, polished, sexy and other such positive things because its easy and fun ? I can’t say so. Sure, I feel the band’s drum sound suffers from feeling incredibly digitized and there could be more weight and depth to the mix but it is in no way a chore to listen to from a purely sonic perspective as opposed to a artistic one. As modern metal productions go you can’t really fault it. Given the amount of time I spend re listening to the debut record from Alexisonfire, which sounds like it was recorded with the microphones inside of someone’s ass, I can’t see it being a production issue either.

A lyrical issue perhaps? Do I simply not relate enough to the content of the record to feel the need to revisit it? Nonsense. The side effects of my degree in Philosophy include a predilection towards discussion of matters political, moral, ethical, religious and all the other big boy words. It is almost certainly why so many girls don’t want to sleep with me. The Faceless tackle the religious matters in their own way, which in some ways I may view as simplistic in the grand scheme of the complexity of the issue, which is interesting and is at least self aware enough to not proclaim itself as the truth. It makes a welcome change from fantasy writing, gore & horror based lyrics or over exaggerated emotive or ill informed political attempts in the lyrical content in much of the sphere heavy music. Regardless, I constantly find myself listening, and dancing like a champion believe it or not, to ‘FutureSex/LoveSounds’ by Justin Timberlake and though he is a master of sexual groove and satisfying pop he is no lyrical genius. It can’t be a relation thing either then.

Regardless as to the quality of the songs is it maybe the musicality? Sure there are plenty of clean vocals, pristine guitars and the odd saxophone on this record but those death metal segments are intense and brutal. They can be pretty heavy going, if you’ll excuse the pun. Could it be that? iTunes lists one of my most played albums as ‘Jane Doe’ by Converge. Abrasiveness clearly is not an issue when it comes my desire to digest particular pieces of music again and again.

The fact of the matter is that after careful consideration I cannot pin down in the slightest what makes me not play this genuinely great album more than I have. Its not the songs, its not the production, I can easily relate to the band on a lyrical level and the musicality isn’t an issue in the slightest. So what it is? I don’t have the answer really. I don’t know that I ever will. The fact of the matter remains though that upon inspection of my iTunes very few releases past 2010 receive consistent replay. Which makes me feels almost guilty because given the over saturation of the scene these days from label releases and independent releases alike albums of this quality deserve more recognition in the long term than this.

Is it simply that they literally don’t make them like the used to? Or am I just becoming a jaded old man who is clinging to the soundtrack of his youth?

I conclusion I might have to say Prince was right. The replay value of so many contemporary albums is simply a sign of the times. Other than that whole the internet is a passing fad thing he’s been pretty on the money so far.

When in doubt listen to Prince. But don’t forget bands like The Faceless. They deserve it too.

Click here to ‘like’ The Faceless on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

Video: The Faceless ‘Deconsecrate’

The Faceless ‘Deconsecrate’

I think everyone had more or less forgotten about this. But now we all remember which is awesome because The Faceless really deserve a lot of credit for their latest release and given the recent cancellation of their UK tour we could all use reminding. Or maybe that’s just me because despite my recognition of the album as being genuinely impressive I have in fact not found myself revisiting the release that often. But maybe videos of this kind of quality, which make the band seem much more textured artistically compared to the rest of the baggy black t-shirt death metal brigade, will make the difference.

Seriously though if you didn’t enjoy this then I really don’t know what you want from a metal video? Probably something to do with warehouses.

Click here to ‘like’ The Faceless on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan 

Guitar is boring me…so watch Evan Brewer rip up the bass.

Evan Brewer

There is no reason whatsoever for this post other than I’m sick of watching people play guitar and I think that Evan Brewer is pretty cool. Don’t get me wrong, I love engaging and inventive guitar players, and who doesn’t enjoy some gnarly shred but there is SOOOO much of it on YouTube, a lot of which I come across through content for this site and just general browsing of stuff, that it does kind of ware thin on you.

Evan Brewer though is a bass player. A bass player who has done some pretty interesting things in the last few years, such as his solo album composed entirely of bass ‘Alone’. ‘Alone’ was a bit hit and miss in the end, but a lot of it was really interesting music melodically and I think it made a lot of people who had written off the bass as soley support instrument, particularly when it comes to heavy music, sit up and take a bit more notice. Probably more among the younger generation of extreme music fans than among the more educated and experience musicians and music fans, but a notable achievement nonetheless. Evan also plays bass in progressive death metal band The Faceless who are pretty fucking sweet.

Check out a selection of videos related to the work of Brewer below.

Click here to ‘like’ Evan Brewer on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan

The Faceless ‘Autotheism’

The Faceless ‘Autotheism’ (Summerian 2012)

Michael Keene – Guitar, Vocals, Geoffrey Ficco – Vocals, Wes Hauch – Guitar
Evan Brewer – Bass,Lyle Cooper – Drums

Produced by Michael Keene

The Faceless have been a band riding on potential for some years now. Their previous releases hinting at greatness and obvious virtuosity. Though never quite justifying the hype that was bubbling just under the surface. Since their last release there’s been a four-year gap and some substantial personnel changes with 3/5ths of the band having this as their debut record for The Faceless.

Now The Faceless are much, much closer to justifying that whispered hype that followed in their wake on the interweb but they’re also very obviously not the same band. This isn’t a new age death metal band this is much more a progressive metal band. This is a record full of dynamic twists and turns, harmonies, odd samples, tasteful clean passages and a LOT of clean vocals. Many of the blasting and thrashing sections are simply bridges to the next part of the song. It’s a record that is a lot more musical than it is metal.

Perhaps the most obvious departure from previous outings from the band is the vocals. Michael Keene provides a whole lot of the lead vocal work on this album. His voice has a strong sense of character and tone, which more than makes up for any technical limitations it may have. It runs in excellent contrast to the ferocious roar, which is much akin to Mikael Akerfedlt, of Geoffrey Ficco. Ficco stands apart from the wave after wave of boring and incredibly mundane ‘brutal’ vocalists that populate the metal world today because of the control and texture of his screams. That the death metal parts of this record are still engaging when sitting beside the more left field elements is a testament to this as there is plenty of room for the more traditional elements of the band to feel somewhat stale. But like I say, somehow for the most part they don’t.

Oh, and the guitar playing on this record fucking rips. But they kinda goes without saying. But I’ll write it down anyway just so you know that I didn’t forget.

That of course returns to the underlying point of this review: The Faceless aren’t a death metal band anymore. In the same way that Opeth aren’t a death metal band anymore. Death Metal bands, and I am speaking generally and traditionally here and not universally, are not fans of texture or sonic variety. They’re not focused on the dynamic impact of songs beyond bludgeoning. They certainly don’t incorporate saxophones into over 6 minute epics. They don’t develop from album to album, except maybe when it comes to speed. The Faceless have done all of those things with this album. When the band was a teenager it was all about the shredding brutality. But now they’re growing up at University and they’re being exposed to so much that they want a bit of everything. And to show just how much they know about a bit of everything. A poor analogy for metal I know, but I am a pretentious cunt so I can only write about what I know.

Production wise I do wish the album had a bit more beef and depth to the sound. It feels incredibly digital, which while entirely practicle does rob certain elements of the nine tracks from the ‘vibe’ potential that would surely escualte the impact of the record to new heights. Bar that and the odd bit where I felt like we could have done without ANOTHER blast beat I find very little to turn me off this record. Which is really odd because literally before this album I could not have given less of a fuck about The Faceless.

What a difference four years makes eh?

Click here to ‘like’ the Faceless on Facebook to be kept up to date on future shows and releases.

C.McMillan