Faust - From Glory to Infinity
Paragon Records
Technical Death Metal
9 songs (40'25")
Release year: 2009
Paragon Records
Reviewed by Alex

Faust is a supergroup, of sorts, but the one which has been dormant for a long time. Even though Faust’s creation dates back to 1992, it took 17 years for the band to release their first full-length album. This is perhaps what happens when all band members are involved in other, higher profile, projects. It is difficult to call Faust Italian, since they count Steve DiGiorgio, bass (countless bands) and Dariusz "Daray" Brzozowski, drums (Vader, Dimmu Borgir) among its, albeit session, members. The core of the band, however, are Italians Aleister (Ancient) and Ghiulz Borroni (Profanatum), joined on From Glory to Infinity by another prominent Italian guitarist Luca Princiotta (who lent his talents to Doro and Blaze).

Enough of the historic forays and lineup recitations. After they finally got going, Faust wanted to play their death metal “intelligently”, “well crafted”, “brutal” and “in your face”. The quotes are mine, since I have borrowed all of the adjectives from the band’s press release on Paragon Records. In the eyes of this reviewer, these statements are true at exactly 50/50 ratio. If anything, From Glory to Infinity is not heavily brutal, but very technical death metal. Blessed with the enormous amount of skill at all of their string positions, Faust weave an extremely complex tapestry of convoluted riffs, obvious and not so much melodies atop of busy percussion.

Somehow it reminded me of latter day Death, but Faust is much more bent on their music flying by at the high rate of speed. Not afraid of tempo changes in principle, there are more dizzying parts on this album than anything else (Wet Veils, Holy Hole). Sentimental Worship does begin with a more grounded strappin’ riff, but this music is much more about complex, sometimes overly, leads (Golden Wine Countess, Servants of Morality) than heftiness. Finger nimbleness impressing from all of Faust’s guitarists, one can’t help but want a break in the action, especially if Daray continues to blast or fast-beat away pretty much non-stop as well.

The breaks do come, a harmony lead and a clean beginning of Carnal Beautitude would be the evidence to that. That clean guitar sound is something Faust is not afraid to use sparingly (Sentimental Worship), but you won’t find even a trace of the downtuned brutality of Danish/Benelux death metal on this record. When the vocals are removed, Faust can pass for a progressive instrumental band, their musicianship being so top notch (Pig God Dog, A Religion-free World’s Dream). And speaking of vocals, Aleister keeps them not too low, but rather monochromatic.

I have truly made an attempt to like From Glory to Infinity, but missed the core and character on this album. This flashy express flies right by, garnering a ton of respect, but it fails to make you fall in love with it. From Glory to Infinity is like someone else’s favorite sports team. They could be winning a Super Bowl, and you admire all their hard work and skill, but they are not your guys, so you don’t find it in your heart to root for them. I brought up an earlier Death comparison. In his latter days Chuck Schuldiner (RIP) went from being gory and brutal to more melodic and technical. However, in that transition he never traded away the soulfulness for skill display. Where I am completely on board with Faust is their lyrical message, the world without any religious prejudices would be a cool place to live in.

Killing Songs :
This is all a very even display, so it is hard to pick
Alex quoted 72 / 100
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There are 3 replies to this review. Last one on Sat Nov 28, 2009 8:26 pm
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