Album Review: Face The Maybe - The Wanderer

The creation of an experimental album is not an easy task, as those who try to accomplish it are tasked with blending the three essential elements which define the sound of this genre (heaviness, dynamics and atmosphere) without relying one particular one too much. If it isn’t perfectly centered, the whole thing will go lopsided. In terms of experimental music, the slightest imbalance in your sound might throw off the whole album and break the listener’s immersion. Fortunately, the five-piece act from Barcelona, Face The Maybe handled this balancing act with great sensitivity and skill in creating their gorgeous piece of experimental rock/metal, The Wanderer, which came out in March this year. Clocking at almost 75 minutes, The Wanderer doesn’t feel long, given the genre’s usual album lengths. This album is filled to the brim with great moments within its perceived runtime. “0.086,” the opening track, kicks off the record with an almost two-minute build-up, mostly comprised of a string section and beautiful voice of Rosalia Vila, who is a guest on two tracks off the record including this one. It is in the second track, “All That I See” where Face The Maybe start introducing themselves. The song contains remarkable sections, coming all the way from soothing singing to frenetic rocking. Other highlights are “The Island” with its combination of clean singing formatted in a psychedelic/indie vibe; swirling and noisy “Seth”, which has an eerie feel to it; nothing less eerie nine-minute monster “Sunstrings.” “New Dawn” brings back tasty guitar riffs which tirelessly go forth and back to further explorations within different metal subgenres. Mixing-wise, The Wanderer is really well-made as well. The guitars of Eimel Trejo and Sebastian Budding are crisp and clean, Joan Carles Mari's drums have a lot of punch and sound roomy, Frederic Torres Dappen's bass is actually audible, and the vocals of Tomas Cunat fit in between the other components perfectly, rather than just being layered on top of the mix. There obviously was great attention to detail involved, and the album is much better because of it. The Wanderer is available now from Bandcamp. For more info about Face The Maybe visit their Facebook page here.