It's a discouraging fact that I'm reviewing this album so long after it's release. Not because it's now become less of news, but because of the fact that I've already fallen in love. This has definitely lessened the objectivity of my opinions to a great extent.
With this latest album, vocalist, guitarist and song-writer Michael Keene has taken it upon himself to be the face of the Faceless. Sporting clean lead-vocals that ooze of inspiration from acts such as Devin Townsend and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) along with more prominent use of orchestral arrangements. Gone is the subtle use of vo-coder and small spontaneous soft-singing contributions. Initially I was skeptic of this new choice of musical direction. The song-writing seemed to me very erratic and a bit fractured on my first listen. The three-part introduction aptly named Autotheism Movement I,II,III is a barrage of different musical ideas; organs, saxophone solos, pianos and strings. A three part piece that follows a person abandoning his faith and ceremonially buries the concepts of god and in a macabre way then puts himself in the now vacant role of an almighty creator. This is story-telling with music as a medium at it's finest, but it's also boldly ruffling the feathers of the listener.
The remainder of the tracks follow related themes of awakening but with a broader scope. Touching upon subjects like evolution and science as a tool used for human development and emancipation. These tracks are musically more familiar and focused, and the faceless still delivers taste-full, brutal and groovy songs with strong guitar-solos and haunting melodies. A lot more emphasis has been put on melodic choruses on almost all of the songs, and only the one minute long Hymn of Sanity is solely dedicated to growl-vocals. The addition of orchestral arrangements on almost every track begs the question how well these songs will fare live. I have attended a show from their previous tour and they did rely on backtrack back then, but I feel there's a line that shouldn't be crossed. It somehow seems like the Faceless are having a tough time balancing creativity in the studio with the ability to faithfully recreate it on stage without a keyboard player, let alone a full-blown orchestra. Though there's nothing wrong with backtracking if done occasionally, it could potentially sterilize a live-show.
This album can be seen as highly controversial in many aspects. The most obvious being it's series of delays and considering the fate of the long overdue Necrophagist album, we all begged the question if it would come out at all. Additionally, the actual theme is bound to feel like an insult to some. With it's contents of stone-faced solipsism and strong anti-christian imagery. It's all interwoven in a very haunting and looming melancholy of emotions that are a clear statement about the current state of the human condition. But then again, personas easily offended aren't likely to be this genres main demographic.
The Faceless has since it's debut been a fresh addition to the new-wave of technical death-metal. Many have loathed it's free-form attitude while others have praised it. It seems the fan-base is split into two camps, those who appreciate their experimental nature and those who may wish the Faceless would move towards a more straight-forward melodic technical death-metal approach. And the latter group who where previously displeased with the bands direction are bound to feel even more alienated now. I for one welcome this move towards vigorously trying new ideas. The only real criticism I have found is that the sources for these influxes of new sounds are at times a little too obvious. It gives you this ambivalent feeling of recognizing, but at the same time savoring, the mixture of tribute and plagiarism.
In the end, this is an album that is masterfully crafted by individuals who are passionate about expressing their true views and feelings of the world. That honesty is always sought for, and perhaps required, in art.
