The Top 10 Metal of 2012 #6: The Faceless - Autotheism

The spirit of the ancients wisp and wind towards you filling you with mana from above. Soon, you're roaring with full voice: "I am the Alpha and Omega..."

#6

The Faceless - Autotheism

How in the actual fuck did The Faceless outmaneuver both Gojira's vein-popping fret noodling and sweep away Devin Townsend's dominion over all which lies beyond the fringes of heavy metal? In the same year both release records? Artful in execution and inventive in scope, The Faceless wed together sublime flanks of careening vocals, trammeling percussion played in impossible time strictures, mind-fucking riffs and trippy saxophone blasts somehow making it all work. Incredibly well. Impossibly well. In view of their uncanny ability to churn out inhumanely fast scales as if they’re emanating from the big top of a devil’s carnival, Canadian circus freaks Unexpect may as well pack up their box of psychotic tricks and go home. How do The Faceless create fierce yet doleful technical death metal so engaging upon first listen? I can almost hear the dejected trudge of Gorguts and Cynic back towards their drawing boards. How do they craft music so intricate yet make it seem effortless in practice? It's confounding. Polyrhythms segue into blinding lead breaks, haunting vocal marches and back again. Your brain scarcely has time to catch up, but you're glad you're along for the ride. Autotheism stands inarguably as the finest extreme progressive metal opus since Green Carnation’s Light of Day, Day of Darkness.  Utterly, utterly brilliant.

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The Top 10 Metal of 2012

#7 - Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone
#8 - Baroness - Yellow & Green
#9 - Rush - Clockwork Angels
#10 - Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve
The Honorable Mentions

The Top 10 Metal of 2012 #7: Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone

Taking flight from the prairies of Georgia, we're taken chase by a beguiling yet unsettling red-hooded cherub accompanied by a snarling beast baying for blood...

#7

Be'lakor - Of Breath and Bone

Akin to all great metal records born from the darker pits of our psyche, Of Breath and Bone pours itself in like mist at our feet. Slowly then all at once like our nightly passage into slumber, we realize they've enveloped us totally in their sensuous soundscape. Whips of Celtic tinctured melodies, pile-driving double-kick and some of the most inspired acoustic lead work since before In Flames debased themselves by sporting trucker caps or opening craft beer bars can be heard amongst its elegant length. They have sculpted a stellar death metal selection, blending the frosted majesty of the Finnish while astutely channeling the Swedish penchant for barking gristle and serrated riffery. If a record glues you to your seat until it’s over, it's a bloody good album. Detractors of melodic death metal contend the contemporary devotees tapped melodeath's creative well dry. Others figure only the progenitors of the style can vouchsafe its survival. What utter tripe! The flourishes and brutality of Be'lakor augurs well for a commendable new wave of Australian heavy metal.

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The Top 10 Metal of 2012

#8 - Baroness - Yellow & Green
#9 - Rush - Clockwork Angels
#10 - Barren Earth - The Devil's Resolve
The Honorable Mentions

Article: Top 10 of 2012 - Lies Music Critics Told You (TheVine)

For their Top 10 Music roundup of 2012

Have you ever listened to a record after a reading a review and discovered it just wasn't right?

Sometimes they (we?) get it so wrong it’s like the reviewer walked into your home and told you straight up that your mother is dead. But she isn’t dead. She’s sitting right next to you. Screaming furiously at the stupid reviewer for imputing she’s actually dead. How dare the reviewer. How dare they indeed. (Get out of my house already, you good for nothing reviewer!)

Shake your fist at skewerings of Deftones, Mumford & Sons and Muse reviews at TheVine.