Sunday 20 November 2016

Faces Of The Bog - Ego Death (Album Review)


Release date: October 04th 2016. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Ego Death – Tracklisting

1. Precipice
2. Drifter In The Abyss
3. Slow Burn
4. The Serpent & The Dagger
5. Ego Death
6. The Weaver
7. Blue Lotus

Band Members:

Mark Stephen Gizewski - guitars, vocals
Trey Wedgeworth - guitars, vocals
Paul Bradfield - bass guitar
Danny Garcia - drums, perc

Review:

This Chicago quartet are pushing the envelope in a way that I really like. Moving in genres that are close to my heart but are sadly severely overpopulated these days, you have to do something different and special to recharge the stagnated tones and stand out. And these four Illinois gentlemen are onto something very good. Taking equal measures of psychedelic doom, sludge and progressive metal and putting it in a powder keg, lighting the fuse and what happens, happens. The music is beautiful, ugly, brutal, soothing, transcendent, in-yer-face and....fucking amazing!

On a personal level, 'Ego Death' is a revelation. I've been longing for a band to step up and challenge the existing music scene. And the way Faces Of The Bog do it is so exciting. Effortlessly and with a ton of chutzpah, their powder keg is ignited and aimed and fired with chilling accuracy at us unsuspecting listeners. And I simply come back for more because 'Ego Death' is that damned addictive.

Big heavy riffs permeates throughout but do check out the first half of the title track and you'll know what I'm talking about. Then, all of a sudden in the latter parts of the song, everything turns into a hypnotic, mantra-like composition which will put you in a wonderful trance. What follows is the bludgeonly heavy and sludgly, yet spacey 'The Weaver'. Kind of Tool in the slower parts and I love that. Suggestive, inticing and brutal at the same time in the chorus, this amalgamation works fantastically well.

Closer 'Blue Lotus' starts off with a strong 16 Horsepower/ Wovenhand feel, which turns into a meditative state of mind before the sludge machine arrives. Do you feel confused? Don't be cause everything makes perfect sense and every little bit fulfils an important purpose. Shamanistic and suggestive, The Serpent & The Dagger' eventually goes into heavy but slooooow riffs before switching to a frenzied post-apocalyptic transcendence fest.

'Ego Death' is a very impressive full-length debut by any standard and it is as complete as it ever could be. Wish more bands could be as damned good as Faces Of The Bog are, but I guess better a select few than none at all, right? Anyhow, I enjoy this band immensely and I suggest you check them out as well. Don't let pure talent go unnoticed!

Words by Håkan Nyman

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp