the faceless - autotheism

a looooong awaited re-issue. i will always be a bigger fan of their simpler days but dang, this is a great album. 500 copies on oxblood/gold cornetto vinyl. sumerian records. 2012/2022.

the faceless - in becoming a ghost

finally the new the faceless has surfaced after five years of waiting. well, ok, to me it wasn't like i waited five years because i bought my first the faceless record around christmas 2016 - but - it felt like an age of waiting for new tunes of these prog death masters. so when pre-orders went up at the end of last year, i didn't hesitate to order from the states. high shipping rates be damned but i didn't want to miss out.

i asked the guys at killer merch, where sumerian has a platform for their merchandise, to separate the vinyl from the cover sleeve which was never a problem with past orders. they agreed, cool. when they shiped the record i got a tracking number. after a few weeks their was still no progress with my parcel. asking back it was declared lost and the mailorder sent a new one and i think this was where my request got lost. the record arrived with an ugly seam-split at the spine. fuck that! thankfully the text was unconcerned.

i tried my best with the limited handicraft abilities within my grasp and i think it went out quite ok. still i spare you guys the view. no professional work here. instead i tell you that "in becoming a ghost" is a behemoth of a prog death record. the band included some black metal elements to their sound and it works perfectly. check out "black star", what a fantastic song. i love the bass play. 500 copies on this nice opaque pink with black splatter vinyl. sumerian records. 2017.

the faceless - planetary duality

the second record of the sumerian order which is actually the one i was after the most. it is one of those records where the imagery promised great deeds. over the year a few of them cross my path and only through some hearsay and nice cover art i know, this is going to be great. that was what happened with "planetary duality" and me. so without much thinking i ordered this gem from the states. the dude over at killer merch, which hosts the sumerian store, was very compliant and helped me out with the customer's declaration. thanks again!

as i already stated in the "akeldama" post, the records arrived here in best condition. after the first listen i wasn't sold immediately, i have to admit. i thought that "akeldama", which clicked with me right away, was catchier but after a few more spins "planetary duality" sunk its claws in deep. a great album without any weakness. i love that the faceless didn't try to stretch out the length of the record. with thirty minutes it's pretty short but i don't miss a thing. a complete work as long as i am concerned.

another lovely presentation by sumerian records. as i am not that much a fan of printed dust sleeves i really appreciate the insert with lyrics and credits. simple sleeve with awesome apocalyptic artwork by pär olofsson and now to the secret star of the package - the super sharp vinyl colour-way. i still drool over the looks of it every time i pull it out of the sleeve. the mix between blue and baby pink is an absolute winner! got to keep my eyes peeled for a re-press of "autotheism". 699 copies made on "galactic burst" vinyl. don't be fooled by discogs sellers trying to sell these for insane prices. both records still available. sumerian records. 2008/2016.

the faceless - akeldama

in my last post i gave a subtle clue as to what my next post might be about, a sumerian records release. with my latest obsession for tech/prog death metal i searched a bit in the back catalogue of sumerian records. i came across the name the faceless and checked if there was any vinyl available. i heard of the band before and knew that they have a good reputation among stalwarts, so i wasn't surprised to find that second hand market prices were pretty inflated for copies of the band's second and third album.

like sumerian would have heard my prayers they came up with a twelve days of sumerian christmas special. for twelve days they put up some limited merchandise in their store and on day three they offered re-presses of the faceless' second album "planetary duality" and the first vinyl press ever of the band's debut "akeldama". there was no chance i was going to miss that. even though the prices were hefty for a single lp, i did what i had to do.

fortunately the records arrived here in prime condition and when i dropped the needle for the first time on "akeldama" - meaning "field of blood" and is a place in jerusalem where the traitor judas iscariot died and which later became a burial field for foreigners - i was surprised at how dynamic it is. the basic framework is technical death metal and then they threw in chunks of swedish melodic death metal and black metal and topped it all off with some crushing breakdowns. the presentation is lovely. slip sleeve, ten inch insert and heavy clear green vinyl. 765 copies made. sumerian records. 2009/2016.

post scriptum: sorry for the bad quality of the pictures but it seems that every weekend, when i have actually time to make some, the sun hides behind an impervious wall of clouds. maybe i'll replace them at some point.