The Zenith Passage Solipsist

Descripción

I love getting debut records to review, partially because debuts are usually where bands try to bring something new to the table, and partially because it means I have a lot less contextualization to do before I write about the album. But then there are sometimes cases in which I’m actually familiar with a band prior to their release, and in this instance I have The Zenith Passage covered. Their first EP, Cosmic Dissonance, was my introduction to the band way back in the salad days of 2013, and I can recall the exact train of thought that went through the ancestral 2013 Kronos‘ brain. I won’t belabor you the details; what’s important is that the train was long, uniform, and had engines at the front and back ends. Both of those engines, as well as all of the train cars, had two words on them: The Faceless.

If you’re opposed to seeing the above bolded letters repeated, I’d recommend you skip this review and go outside, because the second “Holographic Principle II: Convergence” got going, I was set to namedrop Keene & Co about a dozen times. The ghostly clean guitars, lightning fast seven-note chugs, dissonant but reigned-in chord hits; sure Planetary Duality had a big effect on the tech-death scene, but nobody has ever aped it this perfectly. “Simulated Reality” busts out the vocorders and for a second I’m tempted to make a Cynic reference, but wait! The Faceless do that all the goddamn time.

All this aping might seem like a bad idea -and to be fair, it certainly won’t win the group a non-snarky review – but as far as influences go, The Faceless are a good one to pick¹. “The Dissension Consensus” opens with trademark stop-and-go riffing and a handful of semi-melodic leads and sound like a trade-off between Akeldama and Autotheism, introducing keys that will return to play out the album in “Luminary Singularity.” It’s a pretty killer tech-death song, with a great balance of drama and display, and of course captures the feel of The Faceless across pretty much all three of their albums. The follow-up, “Dreamsphere” is a quiet, jazzy interlude led by a morose synth, which showcases drummer Luis Martinez. It might be the most original piece on the album, but it’s way less fun than the tracks surrounding it.