Admittedly the band name Be Faced and their EP which is curiously titled “Ingot” doesn’t immediately grab your attention but when you look beyond that and simply tune in to the music, you realize that there is more than meets the eye here and Sydney band Be Faced have potential to do something pretty cool here.
“Ingot” is by no means the most perfect set of songs, musically or production wise but bands first starting out rarely ever achieve perfection and rather, can have something that sets them on the path to something bigger or simply better. What “Ingot” lacks in precision, focus and production is a rawness and an almost lively feel that probably comes pretty close to their live sound. Despite the flaws, the riffs are pretty slamming in that modern metal, hardcore meets slightly prog style where influences seem to range from Machine Head, Pantera and the like and it all comes together fairly nicely in a groove oriented way.
Going through the tracks, there’s a bit of variety on offer from the intricate intro of the opening song “What You Think” where it dives in from groove metal and melodic parts to the final track “Under My Skin” where prog elements are abundant and weave in a mix of head turning tempo changes and some heavy riffing.
A highlight on the EP though has to be “Guilty Of Hate”, a meaty metal slab of chugging riffs and progressive thrash that twists and turns around a few bends while switching gears where seamlessly possible. It’s again by no means perfect as the raw and almost flat-ish sound brings it down a notch or 2 but hearing this one live would probably go down really well to metal punters looking for some headbanging.
“Beating On A Cold Steel” is an infectious groove meets hardcore with just a hint of melody sitting underneath some crushing riffage. Like most of the tracks here, it doe switch gears a few times but mostly keeps it’s foot firmly in one place to really feel out the main riffs.
Not a bad effort from Be Faced, it’s a start to something that could really go somewhere if they focused more on consistency as it can sometimes be confusing as to whether the band want to be a prog band or a straight down the line crushing metal band. But either way, a worthwhile EP to track down and tune in to.
TRACKLIST
What You Think
Beating On Cold Steel
Guilty Of Hate
Under My Skin