Under the Gun Review

We Interviewed The Faceless

November 12th, 2008 James Shotwell

Last week James had a chance to phone up The Faceless to discuss their brand new concept album which just dropped this week. GO BUY IT!

UTG: Hello, how are you today?

TF: Pretty good, we’re in Atlanta.
UTG: So, the album comes out next week, what can you tell us about it?
TF: It’s a concept album about aliens and the history of mankind. Somewhat fictional [laughs]. I think it’s definitely a different direction. More technical, more heavy, more focused.
UTG: I noticed the album closes with, “Planetary Duality,” which has two parts. What’s the significance of these tracks?
TF: Actually, there’s two reasons. The first reason is that it’s one 7 minute piece of music and we thought we’d splice it for convenience. The other reason is that the first half is actually all instrumental and the other part has vocals on it.
UTG: What has changed in the world of The Faceless since the last album?
TF: We went out and toured for several years and developed further as musicians. I think we’ve matured a bit and we wrote this album in a much shorter amount of time. The last release was written over two years, some of which while in high school, and just not as great overall. This album is us defined and reaches closer to our own goals for our music.
UTG: The music is just so chaotic, how do you guys create this technical sound and make it all fit so well?
TF: It’s largely me, sitting in front of my computer, fleshing out ideas. I program drum ideas and just experiment. When we all get together I generally have a focused idea for the song and then we just narrow it down and assemble it as precisely as we can.
UTG: I’ve heard that you’re hitting the road on a large scale tour, what can you tell us about it?
TF: This is our headlining tour. We took out Neuraxis, Veil of Maya, Decrepit Birth, and Abigail Williams. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s continually a positive and friendly environment. The people coming out are great people and all the bands, though with different musical directions, are all very talented and it’s just cool to see such a diverse tour working so well. You have to have an open mind to really get into it, but it just has worked so well.
UTG: A lot of bands have pre-show rituals. What do you do to get prepared to play?
TF: I wouldn’t say we have any band rituals. The only thing I can really tell you is that we don’t drink or do anything to change our mental states before we play, but we do after. I’ve been trying to meditate everyday to clear my mind and have a clear path for me and the music.
UTG: Some say the metal world is nothing, but a bunch of breakdown frenzied clones, what separates The Faceless and how do you feel about that statement overall?
TF: I agree with the statement to good degree. 99.9% of this genre is very stupid and generic. I would say we’re different because we associate with as many other genres as possible, but death metal. We try to incorporate synth, and jazz, and other things. We don’t think of ourselves as a metal band, but a band of musicians that people categorize as metal.The new album, I think, really takes us out of a lot of the generic sounds on albums these days.
UTG: We always ask something random, yours is – If you could be in any non metal band throughout history, who would it be and why?
TF: I’ll think about it, give me a minute. Ask me the last question and we’ll come back to this. Nine Inch Nail because I really like them and I feel like they’ve always broken the rules of music and succeeded.
UTG: We don’t do final questions, just final thoughts. The floor is yours:
TF: Our album comes out next week and we’d love for you to check it out. Give it an open mind and I think you’ll find something you like.
*Written By: James Shotwell*

James Shotwell
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