Andrew Danso

"Planetary Duality" arrives, and the promotional sticker reads “For fans of Cynic, Meshuggah and Necrophagist” (not in that particular order). It’s unfair; if only too brief a glance at what’s really within the record. Sure, there’s a flirt with the vocal vocoder (like Cynic), the sweaty dexterous guitar riffing (like Necrophagist) and odd time signatures (like Meshuggah). However, we would be doing you a great disservice if we mentioned that, that’s about it. You’ll find when scratching the surface, the Faceless are pulling strings in such an organic way, that "Planetary Duality" feels unique even when all of it has been heard before. The album sets a benchmark for their German (if otherwise) counterparts, with a technical mastery that’ll easily make the competition blush.

"Planetary Duality" is a brisk affair with the entire record wrapping up in just over 30 minutes. That’s not to detract or defunct in anyway – it’s difficult to imagine such detail in technicality exceeding the 35 minute barrier. Straight off the bat, you’ll soon discover that the Faceless aren’t simply a technical distro using guitar hero histrionics to boast their blindingly talented musicianship (as you probably did discover listening to their previous, “Akeldama”); they also merit extremely detailed song writing that even the progressive diehard would applaud. And yet, there are about a thousand acts one could reference that are in this regurgitation. It’s how well all of these sophomore’s have been put together which make the Faceless very different, and albeit, very unique.

Archaic-Magazine.com