Another debut album from Eastern Europe... And another good debut this is too. Dark metallers Without Face actually aren't any newcomers, because originally this was released in summer 2000, and it managed to harvest a lot of good reviews.

Now that Sirrah are over and out and metal scene, in any case, need some new, vital blood, 'Deep Inside' bring some of it along itself. Without Face are a pretty strange an occurrence mixing of dark/gothic/thrash metal and prog music elements. A bit like Sirrah were on their marvellous 1997 farewell album, 'Will Tomorrow Come?' (a.k.a. 'Did Tomorrow Come?'). The usual pop/rock song structures were thrown out of window and I feel the band more like follows the tales of lyrics. Lyrically the band are influenced by H.P. Lovecraft, E.A. Poe and H.W. Longfellow, so the texts are much about the dark sides of life, such as killer's feelings and supernatural things. The music is like a current through a lifetime with a majority of dark flow, and it is easy for a listener to throw oneself into its swerving torrent. This time the music and the lyrics really fit, or rather belong together. I'd call Without Face dark metal with prog leanings, it's the shortest way to say it, but maybe it ain't saying it all. Just to give you some kind of direction... And yes, it is Sirrah that this reminds me about, no other band.

Without Face utilize both male and female vocals. Andras's vocals go from clear singing (these remind me of Depressive Age's clear vocals) to shouting and growling, sounding very natural. Fits with the lyrics, for sure. Girl isn't called Juliette, as it reads on the booklet. Anyways, female vocals are nothing great in my opinion, it's just high-pitched singing for a big part... But vocalists' duet is something different for sure, not that growling man/angelic girl stuff for all the time, but their voices create a weird collision. The band's performance is very good, but they never drift into flashovers.

This re-release has been remastered and has a new layout and it includes (a partly broken, at least mine is) multimedia part: Quite a boring and low-quality video of 'I and I' plus bands webpages. The album sounds very clear, the quite heavy guitar has bite in its tone, but still it all could be a lot more "fatter". But different elements can easily be heard, so it works.

Without Face should grant something good for those who enjoy dark metal and dark literature. The band's peculiar style and extravagant vocals performances might prove a too high obstacle for some people to overstep, but I heartily courage you to try Without Face.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/26/2001 11:14