Anyone who is familiar with UK 80s thrash band Toranaga, will probably also be familiar with Face The Unknown's vocalist Mark Duffy. When Toranaga split, Duffy moved on to meet Malcolm Spence whilst fronting progressive speedsters X-Seed and the writing team for FTU was set in place. It's been a long road but these two appear to have crafted an album that, whilst dragging them into the 21st century, retains intriguing elements of that old school vibe.
Don't be tricked into thinking this is upbeat thrash though. 'At Death's Door' is big, dirty, southern-influenced groove metal that delights in chunky, driving riffs, Neanderthal drums and insistently spiky vocals. The raw recording may not be to everyone's tastes, the wince-inducing top-end almost tears itself apart in places, but it does succeed in hot-wiring the music direct into your brain, neatly avoiding the trap that so many modern bands fall into; the point where too much knob-twiddling nonsense drags the music inexorably back to a point where it ceases to impact.
Tracks like 'Consume' and 'You Can't Save Me' rip elements of Black Label Society and thrust them forcefully at the knuckle-dragging groove of Down before the change-up comes and the powerful crunch of Pantera kicks in. 'Love To Hate' is strong enough to have you blowing hard as the true metal headrush of Saxon and Priest drops into a murky breakdown and back out into a freewheeling solo. They do dip a toe into their thrash comfort zone for 'Another Way' and, to an extent, 'Sink Or Swim' and, even though the changes in rhythm are about as ugly as you can possibly get them, the dissonant chord strikes, the sneaky riffs and the gang chants still grab hold of you in a way that will have you welling up. If only they'd submerged themselves in this upbeat battery.
For the most part, this is an album that enjoys digging its heels into the mud in true Corrosion Of Conformity/Crowbar-style, caring not if track running times are stretched out beyond breaking point. The result? There is far too much content that feels overwrought with the miserable low point being the six-minute rut that is 'Unknown', which hangs desperately onto an urgently repetitious vocal and riff. Sadly, the surly 'I Am The One' and 'Devoid' are similarly affected. Then, with the kind of poorly-executed drudgery that 'Your Destiny' exhibits taking the band one step firmly towards discordant maudlin, the album's own door to the end creaks open and FTU, heads hung, walk on through.
Who'd have thought a couple of thrashers could come up with something so dark, so nihilistic. If the album title hasn't convinced you already, the lyrics leave you in no doubt - "Hear the voices in your head forever wishing you were dead" (from 'Long For Death') and "I've got a reason why I'm full of hate, I've stopped believing in the human race" (from 'Consume'). It feels like the work of a band at their wit's end, a band who are putting every penny on black when all they know is red. I hope very much there are those who disagree with this assessment, but I fear this may be an album that is too slothful for the old thrash faithful and too undisciplined for the great unwashed, plonking Face The Unknown firmly in that uncomfortable middle ground between both camps.
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