The Faceless Megathread ("Autotheism" available 08.14.12)

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Off-topic, but Jeff made a mistake firing Padden. I really felt like he grew into the band.

 

[feraledge]

It might be 38 past/present members of Annihilator to 26 in the Faceless, but Annihilator has been around for 34 years, the Faceless only 14. Give Keene time, he will rise to the occasion.

 

[rikwebb]

Off-topic, but Jeff made a mistake firing Padden. I really felt like he grew into the band.

I thought Padden left by choice wanting to spend more time with his family.

 

[cip 123]

Guitarist for these shows is Andrew (forget his last name) from interlooper he seems like a pretty cool dude and some great chops.

 

[RoRo56]

He butchers the solo from about 9:30.

 

[Andrew Lloyd Webber]

What’s sadder is the brand being so damaged as to be booked at Barmageddon in Tulare - A dive from the Fresno circuit of buttmetal bands who draw zero but refer to their biannual weekends of gastropub gigs between adjacent counties as a “tour.” The Faceless was probably paid in spaghetti.

 

[Jonathan20022]

That sucked, but I guess also touches on the rumors of them back tracking Keene's parts. I think I'd enjoy that more if I went to see them live instead of hearing it played so poorly.

I saw it live with Wes and Evan Brewer and it was tight as fuck back then.

 

[TheArsonistsDaughter]

Ooof. That's hard to watch. I was a big fan of them through Planetary Duality...that record is a masterpiece. Not as into the Autothesim stuff, haven't even listened to the newest one. I saw them live with Cynic and Meshuggah and a couple other times and I remember watching the live NAAM footage of him playing Xenochrist repeatedly. I was always impressed by how clean his playing was...which makes this even harder to watch.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I think I'd enjoy that more if I went to see them live instead of hearing it played so poorly.

In a live setting mistakes get buried, its why I usually hate live DVDs since they often don't sound anything like what you are hearing in the crowd. I saw The Faceless in Feb and Keene's playing was a good bit better than that recent video.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Sounds about like the last time I was willing to pay to see them.

 

[wannabguitarist]

That sucked, but I guess also touches on the rumors of them back tracking Keene's parts. I think I'd enjoy that more if I went to see them live instead of hearing it played so poorly.

I saw it live with Wes and Evan Brewer and it was tight as fuck back then.

He played that same solo fairly cleanly with I same them with the TBDM last year. I'm certain it wasn't a backing track since he messed up the harmonic/divebomb at the end . Everything else was super clean though.

 

[drmosh]

He butchers the solo from about 9:30.

christ, they play a 10+ minute song pretty much flawlessly, then he gets sweat in his eyes and can't see shit and fucks up the solo a bit. so what. It's hard, it happens

 

[Jonathan20022]

Anytime the song focuses on his playing it's sloppy, I'm a big fan of the band and I'd be riled up if I was excited for a show and ended up seeing that. Listen to all his leads, they're sloppy and he's either way out of practice or still doing drugs. His bandmates are on point, but he's the weakest link at this point and that is disappointing since it will probably be the same outcome as with every lineup in the past.

 

[Velokki]

christ, they play a 10+ minute song pretty much flawlessly, then he gets sweat in his eyes and can't see shit and fucks up the solo a bit. so what. It's hard, it happens

Nope, not at all acceptable from a pro musician like him. That is 100% lack of practice. Practice builds muscle memory and confidence. He has neither in that clip.

And he plays a lot of the other stuff sloppily too. It just gets buried in the live mix easier, if it's a rhythm part shared with the 2nd guitarist. But guitar solos are the place where your skills really come under the tightest scrutiny. You're very audible, loud and clear. All the minute things about your technique reveal themselves.
And Keene almost always has great vibrato, phrasing etc. But the lack of practice here is just inexcusable.

EDIT: Just see 3:44 of that video, for example!
EDIT 2: Just watch the whole damn video

 

[buriedoutback]

So my band Buried out Back is opening for The Facless in my shitty city June 18. Should be interesting.... Definitely going to try to talk to mr Keene if possible
https://www.facebook.com/events/1947724382224078??ti=ia

 

[Velokki]

So my band Buried out Back is opening for The Facless in my shitty city June 18. Should be interesting.... Definitely going to try to talk to mr Keene if possible
https://www.facebook.com/events/1947724382224078??ti=ia

Haha, ask him straight whether he's scammed people to fund his drug abuse.

Seriously. I'll buy you a beer.

 

[Velokki]

This just uploaded:


The insecurity in Keene's playing and singing just makes me facepalm. He forgets guitar parts and sings wrong lines at wrong times.

That dude is NOT off drugs.

 

[Blasphemer]

Wow, that's the most phoned-in performance I've seen from anyone in a long time. That's a bummer for both the audience and the other guys who are in the band, now.

On another note, that new vocalists grows at the end are killer. Dude's got pipes

 

[Kreprn]

So...did anyone catch them at bay area death fest? How did they perform?

 

[anomynous]

I kept reading that they no showed, but I also saw video from the performance so there's some drama involved