THE FACELESS — In Becoming a Ghost (review)

THE FACELESS — In Becoming a Ghost album cover

Album · 2017 · Technical Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-03-27
UMUR

"In Becoming a Ghost" is the fourth full-length studio album by US, California based death metal act The Faceless. The album was released through Sumerian Records in December 2017. It´s the successor to "Autotheism" from August 2012. Only band founder/guitarist/keyboard player/clean- and vocoder vocalist Michael Keene remains from the lineup who recorded the predecessor and by this point it´s 100% clear that The Faceless is Keene´s baby. Further proof of that is that he has also recorded the bass parts on "In Becoming a Ghost" and is responsible for producing, engineering, mixing, and mastering "In Becoming a Ghost" at his own Keene Machine Studios. So although Ken Sorceron (vocals), Justin McKinney (rhythm guitars), and Chason Westmoreland (drums) are credited for performing on "In Becoming a Ghost", I´m not so sure that it´s a permanent band constellation.

While The Faceless first two albums ("Akeldama" from 2006 and "Planetary Duality" from 2008) were both scorching technical and quite brutal death metal albums with a progressive edge, "Autotheism" took the progressive element of the band´s music a bit further and left behind some of the most brutal parts of the band´s music, and that tendency is continued on "In Becoming a Ghost" which is a highly progressive and technical death metal album, featuring more clean vocals than any The Faceless releases before it and the album also features a lot of excursions into progressive metal territories in terms of unconventional song structures and songwriting ideas. This is still to some extent death metal and at times still pretty extreme music, but the extremity of the band´s music is often overshadowed by the adventurous songwriting ideas and melodic and atmospheric approach to their compositions.

"In Becoming a Ghost" is well produced, featuring a powerful, detailed, and clear sound, which suits the material well. So upon conclusion it´s another high quality release from The Faceless. If you enjoyed the more progressive inclined songwriting on "Autotheism" over the technical and brutal death metal of "Akeldama" and "Planetary Duality", then "In Becoming a Ghost" should most certainly be right down your alley. Compared to "Autotheism" I´d even say that The Faceless master this style better on "In Becoming a Ghost", which to my ears is a more coherrent release (including the cover version of "Shake the Disease" by Depeche Mode). The one feature bringing my rating down a bit is the clean vocals. They aren´t out of tune or badly performed but Keene simply doesn´t have a very interesting or distinct sounding voice. It´s like listening to the clean vocals on Enslaved´s releases. They´re decently performed and quite inoffensive, but they don´t really add much to the music. They are just there and it´s hard not to think that the music would have had more impact with a stronger vocalist performing the clean vocal parts. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.