Search - Perzonal War :: Faces

This...

Barbanegra | Essen, Germany | 06/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...is a band to keep your Eye on. They are not really new, but they are a band that's developing, and already shows a lot of talent. The bad thing about them is, that they haven't really found their style yet. They like to switch styles on their albums from song to song, so it often sounds incoherently.

This band is also known in germany as some kind of Metallica-Rip Off, or better, their label promoted them with the slogan "sound like Metallica from And Justice For All", which hasn't really helped them to get the respect and recognition, they deserved. They CAN sound like Metallica, but that's not what they are mainly doing. To show you how that all sounds, I will introduce the album from song to song.



1.Devil In My Neck - this is actually a typical, Metallica-Style Thrash Metal song, which a short "glimpse" of Korn after some minutes.



2.Burning Symbols - a rather unspectacular mix between Thrash and Power Metal



3.My Secrete - ...and this is Gothic Metal in the way, Bands like "HIM" or "Setenced" are playing it. For this kind of music, the song is great! The Thing is, it doesn't fit to the first 2 songs. It actually sound like it's a totally different band now.



4.Divergent - Quite a strange mix. Nu Metal like Korn over the Verse, changing into classical Metal for the Chorus, comparable to Bands, like Queensryche. Both parts are quite good, but they just don't really fit together. It sounds like Fates Warning and the Deftones recorded a song together. It's not the atrocity you might expect now, but you have to get used to it.



5.From Within Through Time - Some kind of an "Old School Heavy Metal Power Ballad". The kind of stuff, that could have been a single chart success in the 80ies. Really wonderfull, but again, this makes you wonder, if it's the same band, that recorded the 4 previous tracks.



6.Into The Fire - Starting with high speed thrash, with the vocalist suddenly sounding like James Hetfield. Rough, rough a**-spanking, that suddenly switches into Melodic Speed Metal for the chorus. Again, both parts are great stuff for their genres, but they just don't really match up good.



7.Tears - what can you expect from a song with that title? Another Power ballad, half Gothic Metal, half classical Metal. The last three tracks make up a strange Ballad-Sandwich, with brutal Thrash as the peanut butter. This song would have been one of the best on albums of bands like Sentenced or Paradise Lost (at least their latter ones), but it does not fit to the song before, or to the following track, that's named...





8.The Essential - which mixes(messes) up Thrash with melodic Metal again. If you want to make fun of someone that got enough Metal knowledge to know, who James La Brie is, just tell him that this is a cooperation of Metallica and Dream Theater, with Hetfield an La Brie singing. He'll believe it.



9.Faces - sounds like an Alice In Chains-Rip Off-Rip Off (Godsmack comes in mind). This actually would have been one of Godsmacks better Tracks, probably one of those closing one of their albums.



10.Sings Of Chaos - Just some short intro to...



11.Just Some Pain - "reborn" Kreator plus La Brie and Hetfield fighting for the microphone. La Brie wins it clearly, but Hetfield gets some nice shouts in. If you like Thrash with some melody in, you might like/love it.



12.The Sleeper - they can play nice Doom Metal, too. Slow'n'Heavy. Got a nice "True Metal" chorus to it, and again Mr.Hetfield gets some guerilla style attacks on the microphone in, adding some screams, single words and "yeahs".



13.What We Call Progressive - Closing the album with Thrash of the more brutal kind. Again it sounds like there are 3 vocalists, including Mr.Hetfield, and also including some kind of Gamma Ray-style chorus. They added this great joke from the 90ies, with every album having to have that last track, that kind of fools the listener. You know, like doing so, if the song would have ended, then you'll hear just silence for minutes, until it surprises you with some kind of reprise, a hidden track or some annoying Noise? Well, here you've got the annoying noise after two minutes of nothing. This sound is REALLY V-E-R-Y annoying, and really p*** you off.



So, an album, that's sounds more like a compilation, with some bands, that don't fit together, teaming up, to create the stranges kind of metal album ever heard. The obviously enjoy all the sudden changes in style, but it also makes the band just sound like one, that's got tons of talent, but just can't find their style. Except for all that Death/Black Metal stuff, they just threw in everything what's popular in the european Metal scene into one big pot, and made something funny and interesting, but not really great out of it. They could mess with the best in Gothic Metal, Thrash or Power Metal, but... they just simply don't. They seem like they love making music for themselves, and not an audience. But keep your eye on them, because the might release one of the greatest kick-a**-albums of all times in the future."