Albums•November 29, 2011•19,020 views

The Faceless Planetary Duality

1. Prison Born 2. The Ancient Covenant 3. Shape Shifters 4. Coldly Calculated Design 5. Xeno Christ 6. Sons of Belial 7. Legion of the Serpent 8. Planetary Duality I : Hideous Revelation 9. Planetary Duality II : A Prophecies Fruition

2008 Sumerian Records

Our score 8

by Cory

11/25/2008

Tech death metal act The Faceless have spent the last few years since their debut release tirelessly touring with some of the best death metal acts on the planet. As a result, they've since developed into one of the most technically adept and virtually flawless acts of the variety that I've ever heard. To be honest, their latest release Planetary Duality hits most of its bases so precisely that it nearly becomes suspect. While it might be easy to nail them on their impetuous co-opting of Cynic's trademark vocoder routine in "The Ancient Covenant" or the unfortunately comical vocal shortcomings on "Sons of Belial," you would have to be pretty fucking jaded to write this album off altogether. These guys pull off what 99% of bands who have been at this a lot longer have failed miserably at simply by making the segues, experiments and left-field bits work in context. Planetary Duality may clock in at a relatively lean thirty-one minutes, but there are more than enough good ideas, face-melting riffs and technical flourishes to satisfy even the most gluttonous tech-head. If the talk of tech already has you tuning out, I would strongly urge you to reconsider. The Faceless have a knack for fitting all their musicianship neatly into songs that are both well-structured and concise. It's relatively apparent that founding member and lead guitarist Michael Keene is a quick study, building on metal both current and past for his own band's future. It's not a disc that pushes boundaries genre-wise, but the band has certainly set themselves apart from a talent standpoint. Virtuoso guitar work is accented at every turn by a rhythm section that pulls out every trick and tempo in the book over the course of the album. All too often, bands seem to rely too much on their speed or timing to mask their songwriting deficiencies. The Faceless make the majority of their technical passages seem as effortless as the less intricate ones. My only real disappointment with Planetary Duality is in the disc's production and mixing. There is an absolute sterility to the disc's sound that is unfortunately par for the course with most releases of this sort. The guitars are recorded with just the right amount of reverb and the bass never ventures out of its too-tight groove. The drums are never off but they are also rarely natural. I'm interested to see if they are able to pull all of this off as precisely live but I'd almost rather hear a looser incarnation of these tracks, as the material itself isn't done justice by the trophy case treatment. Additionally, there are a handful of points throughout the disc where the drums and guitar seemed at odds in the mix, especially when I listened to it at high volumes on my stereo, as if the two were fighting for your attention and sadly the drums almost always won. Finally, the combination of their artwork and lyrical content reminded me of a cross between Cynic and Nocturnus and it's always fun to hear a metal band sing about death and dismemberment in the context of space and sci-fi every once in a while. There's nothing wrong with being straightforward but I give The Faceless credit for the extra bit of creativity. Bottom Line: The angry old man in me didn't even want to put this record into my CD player but the actual music fan hiding in there just couldn't be repressed upon repeat listens. Planetary Duality is an impressive new take on a genre that has been done so many times before in a much less inspired fashion. The Faceless may not have an extensive pedigree or a back catalog proving their hard-earned cred, but they have something that metalheads often lose sight of: talent. They're a band capable of creating something truly classic and while this might not hit that mark, I will be eagerly awaiting their next release.

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virus_dot_EXE_ 11/25/2008 10:08:02 PM

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The Faceless Planetary Duality

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