Southern California technical death metal act The Faceless hasn't released a new album in nearly five years, but that should change in just a few months. In a recent interview with Metal Wani, band mastermind Michael Keene says that tracking and mixing has completed for the new record, titled In Becoming A Ghost, and an August release via Sumerian Records is expected.
Addressing the delay, Keene had this to say:
[via ThePRP]
"The band went through a period where… for quite awhile in fact, there's been long periods of time where the basis is essentially just me. Kind of in the way that Trent Reznor works in Nine Inch Nails, I tend to work in a similar fashion with The Faceless a lot. I really didn't have a lineup for awhile.
"So I was kind of trying to get that put back together and I didn't want to compromise, I didn't want to continue on with a lesser version of The Faceless just for the sake of keeping going. So I wanted to make sure that it was a-plus players and that the band was either as good as it was or better, which I feel it is. And the new record is in my opinion the best record to date. It's definitely my proudest work, my proudest writing—certainly my proudest mix and master, that's for sure."
Regarding the status of the new album, Keene added:
"The current status is this: all tracking is done. Mixing is done. Basically I'm in the mastering stage. I kind of mix and master at the same time, so it's kind of final touches of the mix and just getting the mastering tweaked just right on the record. Which is literally like, we're talking a couple days here. The master will be turned into Sumerian in just a few days. And I was very explicit with them that I did not want them to set a release date until I turned the masters in.
"Because on previous records there were release dates set and then things ended up taking longer and of course what's the last that happens, the last thing is the mix. So the mix is the thing that suffered. On 'Planetary Duality' for instance I essentially didn't mix the record because there was no time.
"They told me that if I didn't get the record to them in 24 hours that we were going to miss street date. And I stayed up all night, worked for 24 hours. I had listener fatigue, so I couldn't even hear the mistakes I was making. And I turned it in as was and then come to find out it sat on their desk for 10 days before they even turned it into the press plant.
"So I had 10 days I could have worked on the mix and could have gotten it great, but instead that happened and now I have to live with it forever—well I don't have to live with it forever because I'm actually doing a re-mix of 'Planetary Duality'—re-mix/remaster of 'Planetary Duality'—which will be hopefully released next year as a ten year anniversary. But anyway, all that to say, that in the next few days the record will be turned in and street date will follow shortly after...
"We're looking at most likely August. I would say with very high likelihood August will be the month that it's coming out."
You can check out the full interview below.
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