Faces Of The Bog come from Chicago and offer, with this debut titled Ego Death, a sludge doom with rather catchy traits, at least if compared to the most frequent releases in the genre. In fact, the quartet introduces in its sound a good dose of psychedelia and, moreover, at times it seems to listen to a sort of grunge with much more threatening tones (Slow Burn) conferred by the ultra-low guitars and a harsh voice. All this allows Faces Of The Bog to differentiate themselves sufficiently from the canons of the genre, just thanks to a progressive nature that brings the album on different plans, and in this sense are emblematic of the last two tracks: The Weaver, which after its first half toolian to the marrow opens in a more traditional and engaging doom, and Blue Lotus, long psychedelic journey in which the guitars are again, as on the previous song, to lead the dances in the final part. In fact, the sludge, in the work as a whole, is more a solid base on which to build the sound than its true essence, but do not even think that Ego Death is not very deep or even worse light: the difference here is the ability of the guys from Illinois to always find effective melodic outlets even when the songs seem screwed inescapably wrap on themselves. If the goal of Faces Of The Bog was to compose a brilliant album and not too difficult to listen to, without giving up to go down hard, I’d say that they succeeded in full: from the magnificent instrumental opening Precipice to the aforementioned closing entrusted to Blue Lotus, Ego Death flows away intense and above all varied, and is what, in the end, manifests itself as its real strength along with a writing that keeps at a constant safety distance from clever solutions. A first step definitely brilliant.

2016 – Independent 2017 – DHU Records / Narcoleptica Productions