Review Summary: The Faceless of yesteryear meets the Faceless of today - and discovers The Faceless of today fancies itself as a real crooner.
Any review for the new Faceless record should be required to carry this disclaimer: [WARNING], contains nausea inducing volumes of debate concerning Michael Keene’s voice. Honestly, I’m smart enough to realize there doesn’t need to be any more talk about it - I’m also enough of an asshole that I can’t help it.
***
Because really, that’s what Autotheism is about. The Faceless of yesteryear meets the Faceless of today - and discovers The Faceless of today fancies itself as a real crooner.
We feel compelled to discuss Keene’s new found vocal stylings because no particular song or moment on ‘Autotheism’ stands out nearly as much the realization that there is singing in every nook and cranny of this record. I mean it. E v e r y w h e r e.
***
When you first meet Keene's clean singing voice it’s kind of an unsettling Mikael Åkerfeldt-type impression. A little operatic. Deep, a bit nasally. “Oh, it’s one of those Faceless songs! with these, uh, melodic but sparingly used clean vocal parts!” you think - but then those howls keep flying by, and the next thing you know the album is over. Don’t be surprised when the clean singing doesn’t stop. It never stops. The sooner you realize this the better, and once you finally come to terms with it the album can become something more akin to an enjoyable experience.
Just let it happen, I’m at peace you start to think. You close your eyes.
***
Michael Keene could use some work as a vocalist. Tonally and technically he can be a bit off. But most of the time it’s the little things that kill Keene’s performance: over-embellishments, notes that strain his range, phrases that seem poorly thought out or awkwardly executed.
What is most disappointing is that you can tell that as naturally talented of a musician as Keene is, there is some obvious potential for his voice to be a valuable asset for The Faceless. Variety is good, right? The problem with Autotheism is that overwhelmingly this potential is not reached. When Keene (seemingly) impersonates Devin Townsend it just doesn't work, and you have to shake your head.
***
Here's the good news: there are still a lot of neat things that the band did on Autotheism. This album is definitely not Planetary Duality; it’s much more progressive, and it’s intriguing to hear The Faceless further explore the genre. The lyrics are somewhat cheesy, but you have to admit it’s at least a little fun to hear Michael Keene’s vision of a perfect future. A future in which science, knowledge and reason replace religion and faith. No joke, he beats off to science, and you know what? Science rocks, so whatever. Go NASA. Every song is about this stuff, by the way, and the lyrics are not subtle. “Angels are set ablaze, bask in the flames, God is dead.”
There's also drumming! and the new bassist! the weird synth textures! A new co-lead guitarist! A new vocalist! Not surprisingly, these elements are all very good.
The new vocalist is not quite as brutal as Demon Carcass was (god bless), but the plus side is that his voice is a bit more clear, and Ficco’s growling performance ends up being a plus.The new lead guitarist, Wes, while not black (RIP Steve Jones in The Faceless) is lights out tight. Description might go: big, Pantera loving, surgically precise, mature lead player, nice complement to Keene’s own slightly less metal shredding. See? Not all is bad.
***
With Michael Keene in the band, you’re going to get your fusion influenced space-metal solos, frenzied death metal riffs, twisting-surprise circle runs, machine speed picking, brutal, crushing stuff, weird sounds & synth textures, interesting phrasing, and precise and jarring rhythm work. There will be neat clean passages. There will be atmosphere, and beautiful lead guitar work. You will play guitar afterwards and feel like a sloppy mess. These are things Michael Keene does; he couldn’t have kept them off this record if he tried, because they are part of who he is as a musician. These things are on Autotheism, and a lot of times they’re pretty interesting.
It’s just that on Autotheism the neat pieces of music Keene and The Faceless are capable of producing are fewer and further in between. The singing is bad in itself, yeah, but it’s effects are deeper than that - there are a slew of subtle side-effects as a result of the dominating vocal stylings of Keene. The music behind Keene when he is opera-ing tends to be much slower, the riffs less interesting. Songs are lengthened unnecessarily. Other styles that The Faceless are better at than Opeth-ing don’t don’t show up as often as you’d like. And perhaps the most subtle disappoint is that Lyle Cooper and Evan Brewer, as good as they are on Autotheism, still feel under-featured, pushed out of the way by excesses in other areas. The album lacks any distinct or extended section where the drums and/or bass get to shine; given the creativity and technical skill in this rhythm section it’s a shame.
Ultimately The Faceless work best when performing at a more lively pace. The slow or mid-tempo parts or songs they sprinkled into their sound were always welcome because the breaks in pace were appreciated. Welcomed! But on Autotheism the ratio for the recipe has been reversed, and the flow of the album is overwhelmingly dictated by its slow parts. This bent backwards Faceless never finds its groove, and as a result an album with high potential ends up falling terribly short.
