The Faceless are one of the biggest names in technical death metal. Since their first production in 2006 (via Sumerian Records) entitled “Akeldama”, I have been a huge fan of The Faceless. At that point in time, it was some of the most technical and fascinating music my ears have had the pleasure of listening to. A couple years passed and their sophomore album, “Planetary Duality”, was unleashed unto the world. My expectations for “Planetary Duality” were obliterated since it was my favorite album by the band thus far. After patiently waiting for what seems almost like an eternity, The Faceless have finally released their most highly anticipated album to date, “Autotheism”.
Before we dive into this album, let’s start off with the term ‘Autotheism’. The definition of ‘Autotheism’ is the belief that one is a deity or that one is possessed by a greater power. I swear, the whole band must have been possessed by some sort of higher being. The Faceless have consistently been one-upping themselves with their albums, and ‘Autotheism’ is no exception to that statement.
The Faceless are a progressive technical death metal band, with an emphasis on intergalactic themes cleverly placed throughout their tunes. I firmly believe that ‘Autotheism’ is divided into three separate and distinct parts. The first part of the production is comprised by the first three songs, or movements. The second chunk of the album are the following three tracks, and the final fragment are the last three songs.
‘Autotheism’ starts off with an incredibly written three movement piece. Each of the individual movements have their own musical style and characteristics, which apply to their respective song titles. The seventeen minute introduction captures every single sense of what The Faceless is all about.
There is an astonishing amount of intricate guitar riffs and emotional solos, dominant bass parts, drum work that accompanies the music perfectly, an assortment of clean and guttural vocals, and even some string and saxophone features. Each of the movements flow into one other so gracefully. This statement also applies to ‘Autotheism’ as a whole. Most of the tracks flow right into one another, making it seem as if the album is one constant flow of ideas and thoughts, yet all divided into their respective sections.
I see the rest of ‘Autotheism’ as icing on the cake after listening to the first three tracks. I would have been happy enough with the three movements, but there are twenty three more minutes of pure death metal bliss that is left to be enjoyed. The second segment of ‘Autotheism’ is comprised of tracks that will make any fan of The Faceless ecstatic. The tunes “Accelerated Evolution” and “The Eidolon Reality” are average in length, and still deliver blazing technicality that fans crave with a whole lot more. “Ten Billion Years” is the longer one out of the bunch, but showcase the progressive side of The Faceless’ songwriting.
The final portion of ‘Autotheism’ is initiated by “Hail Science” (Stephen Hawking clearly did guest vocals. We all knew he was secretly a metal head!). The ‘Autotheism’ adventure is clearly coming to an end, but The Faceless give the listener one final tidbit of tech death (“Hymn of Sanity”) before easing up on the gas pedal on the final track, “In Solitude”.
All in all, The Faceless have put together what is possibly one of the greatest albums to have come out in 2012. Everything in ‘Autotheism’ was spot on and I have virtually no complaints about this production. It took The Faceless quite a while to put out this album, and it was worth the wait. ‘Autotheism’ is about to join the Real Metal Reviews Hall Of Hame, after scoring a perfect 10/10. The Faceless manage to produce a sound that encompasses everything that we love in technical death metal, as well as putting their eerie and incredibly original spin on the genre. After the long wait for the release of ‘Autotheism’, we live in an age where The Faceless can confidently say, “We Told You So”.
‘Autotheism’ will be released on August 14, 2012 worldwide via Sumerian Records.
‘Autotheism’ will be available through your favorite online retailers, as well as record stores worldwide.
