Review Summary: Awesome debut for a band with such young age.
So I've had a very interesting experience with The Faceless. I first heard about them when they were releasing their second album. I read a little column about them in Revolver Magazine and it said they were like Meshuggah and I simply laughed because from what I heard, they were a deathcore band. So I thought of them as nothing better than the likes of Suicide Silence. And then that all changed when I listen to "XenoChrist" off of their latest album. Damn, that is a good song. So then, I only liked that one album. And I assumed "Akeldama" was just a brocore slam record. That all changed when I heard "An Autopsy". Damn, that is a good song. Holy ***, deja ***ing vú.
One thing I will say is that unlike "Planetary Duality", this album has some breakdowns scattered across a few of the songs. But, they are tastefully added and add to the song. They aren't just added in for the same of hardcore dancing.
So, this starts off with a nice drum fill leading into "An Autopsy", a nice little tune about uncovering a life story by digging into some vile corpse. It has some cool melodies and keyboard leads in it, and you can even hear some classical influence in this song. The next song is "Pestilence". This is probably the best song on the album. It has a really cool Egyptian sound to it, obvious Nile influence here. This song just makes you wanna bang your head.
Another good song on the album, "All Dark Graves" comes along with some really intro type thing, and then, this really catchy melody hits you. And then that continues and the band builds parts based on that hook. And then comes (gasp) a BREAKDOWN. Believe it or not, it isn't that bad, it lasts about 30 seconds, if that, and goes right back to the catchy hook. It really adds to the song unlike all of the other deathcore bands that use breakdowns. After that, we got the "Horizons Of Chaos" duo. I think at this point in the album, it is the weakest. These songs just nearly aren't as memorable as the first three or the two to follow.
All is well when the album redeems itself with "Leica". You got some cool riffs going on and it will seem like an okay song. But, then a beautiful synth lead and then that makes the entire song. The rest of the song is based off of that catchy mother***er of a riff. And then, the last masterpiece of the album, the proggy instrumental title track, "Akeldama". You've got a really cool Cynic-ish robot voice starting you off saying about how to live in true freedom is to forget worries about life and death or something like that. And most of the song seems to be in the meter of 7/8. And then you got some other really cool and memorable parts in there.
Then, the album finishes up with "Ghost Of A Stranger". I think this was a bad choice for a closer, I think "Leica" or the previous song would've fit a lot better, because I don't think this song is that memorable.
One thing about this album is it has a short run time. This has both pros and cons. The good thing is, since it is short, you can keep going back to it without having to set aside a big portion of time to listen to it in full. The bad thing is, it goes by fast.
Best songs
1. Pestilence
2. Leica
3. Akeldama
