Faces Of Eve

The Story So Far EP

Written by: TL on 10/06/2015 15:45:35

Faces Of Eve are a young group out of Hertfordshire, UK who put out the six track EP "The Story So Far" in late May. On the EP the quartet displays a sound that sits between hard rock and metalcore, yet they remain different from the latter genre's typical sound by featuring clean vocals exclusively. These cleans are characterised by airy falsetto highs that bring to mind Alexisonfire or older We Are The Ocean tracks, and a tendency to vocalise somewhat excessively, much like the ever so influential Jonny Craig of Emarosa etc. is (in)famous for. To the band's credit though, the EP flashes some good ideas that more bands could learn from.

Firstly you will notice that they know how to create dynamics simply by letting silence work in their favour, creating suspense between parts, which should be such a fundamental technique in music that you have to wonder how young bands forget about it so often. The band has good timing then, in knowing exactly when to not play and when to play their rather lively, buzzing riff patterns, and as an added bonus, they do some simplistic yet effective tricks with panning the instruments to one side or preempting a guitar riff with the bass to further set up their movements in dynamic ways. Tracks two and three, "Feed" and "Crime Of Passion" are good examples of what the group can do, both when forging ahead at a faster pace and also when building up atmospherically to a riff barrage where the vocals are spit forth in a staccato manner that brings to mind some of nu-metal's more efficient characteristics.

Unfortunately, while the band deserves commendation for foregoing growling for the sake of it, and for not relying on artificially making their vocals do things they cannot do in the real world, their approach to the singing does start to lose novelty even over the span of the modest six tracks. Too often, the solution used to create dynamics is to simply layer a soft falsetto harmony on top of the lines that are sung with regular chest voice. And while it works in some places, it is clear that the band wears this technique thin too soon, and that they could really need some extra range on the full voice singing. In this regard singer Benjamin Fordham Black would do well to practice some belting to add to his arsenal. Not because he needs to become your typical, constantly straining and screeching post-hardcore vocalist - by all means no - simply because he would do well to have more powerful range of expression to match the potential displayed in the instrumental aspect.

Simply put: Faces Of Eve display some cool things right out the gates in terms of writing instrumentals and recording them in a way that sounds elaborate and more expensive than it probably was, but their potential at this juncture is still limited, partially by the lack of power and range in the vocal performance.

Download: Feed, Crime Of Passion
For The Fans Of: InMe, Exit Ten, Nothing More, Shreddy Krueger
Listen: facebook.com/facesofeveuk

Release date 29.05.2015
Self-released

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