Galicia, located in the Iberian Peninsula, is an area of Spain that is not well known and has been isolated from its surroundings and other cultural influences. While Spain may not have actively ignored Galicia, its most significant modern influences have come from the sea. Energizing as the ocean breeze, comes the debut LP from FACED OUT, an edge metal / metalcore act, who joins us today to discuss their new work and explain the specifics of their local community and music scene.
Drawing influences from late 90s / early 2000 European metalcore and edge metal (think of Arkangel, Reprisal, Length Of Time, From The Dying Sky), FACED OUT comes with a bang and leaves its long imprint in your brain. Holding the emotions of its time, the musical incarnation of post-pandemic anxiety, “In The Absence Of Solace” proves that FACED OUT have accomplished what they were no doubt aiming for. Do yourself a favour and unleash this beast without further ado.
In The Absence Of Solace 12″ is out today through The Coming Strife (UK) and Force Of Reckoning (US). Tapes are available via Medusa’s Lair Records (EU).
10 tracks of hard hitting metal core resembling sounds from late 90s / early 00s Belgium or Italy. – Medusa’s Lair Records
Faced Out take influence from bands like Arkangel, Reprisal and early 00’s edge metal and deliver 10 tracks of blistering metallic hardcore. – The Coming Strife Records
Hey guys, please give us a quick introduction of the band
We’re Faced Out, a metal core band from NW Spain formed in 2017. We released two demos to date, one in 2017 and another in 2018 and toured Spain and Portugal extensively between 2017 and 2019.
Have you been active in other bands before Faced Out ?
Yes, all of us were in other bands since around 2011-12 but most of them kept it very local and never were anything serious like this project. Most notably is our bass player joining Fractura on guitar, and our drummer having played drums in the melodic hardcore band Outlines and more recently in the Sludge/hc band Siesta Boys.
Ok, so tell us a bit about the forming, norming and storming process of the band and your debut release.
In 2020 as we were in the middle of the creation process of our debut album, the outbreak of the pandemic put everything on a halt.
The isolation and desperation this situation brought to all members of the band made tensions rise a lot which ultimately caused a 1-year hiatus between 2021 and 2022.
We started off fresh in early 2022 with a new drummer and relocated to a nearby city to make it feel like a fresh new start.
We reshaped and rewrote part of our songs we started off before the pandemic which undoubtedly has had an influence in all of us. Existential thoughts and an overall darker vibe was given to the songs, fitting to the times we went through.
How has the pandemic impacted you personally ?
Yes, the lockdown caused severe anxiety problems to some of us, leading up to having to part ways with our original drummer. Also everyone in the band who had a job at that time lost it which didn’t help at all hahah
Alrightie, so what happened next?
After we finished the whole recording process, we signed with The Coming Strife (UK) and Force Of Reckoning (US) to produce a few 12″ records, as well as with Medusa’s Lair Records (EU) for a tape release (even though this last one is just a small DIY label our bass player operates hahah).
How did you team up with The Coming Strife and Force Of Reckoning?
Our bass player who operates his label already knew Oli from TCS and already traded some stuff with him. We thought the style of our record would fit pretty good in his catalogue so it was pretty much the first option that came into our minds and we just went with it and it worked out!
Force Of Reckoning jumped into this through recommendation of Oli and we thought it would be pretty cool for our stuff to be released in the US too so why not hahah
Post-pandemic wise, specifically speaking about live shows, how shattered was your local independent music scene?
Shortly after we went back to playing shows and noticed things were really off. Plenty of venues where we played or where we just went to watch other shows shut down in our region due to the pandemic. There was no substantial help given from the government, especially for these small DIY businesses to survive the pressure of the lockdown (that lasted for several months in Spain).
Most of these places we used to go to are either still shut or some fancy night club or mainstream bar opened in their place, all of which oppose our underground culture.
The pandemic was the perfect excuse for all those ‘indesirable’ places to disappear since plenty of social centres or squats which supported underground DIY culture and didn’t depend on abusive rents have shut down too.
Were there any interactions, protests and undertakings in order to save some of these places ?
There were protests and interventions in some of those places but nothing at all worked out except for a public rehearsal space that was funded by our city council. It first closed down but it reopened, it’s always easier to put some pressure on your mayor than to your nations president hahah
Ok, so what’s the situation now?
As it stands now, we’re faced with overpriced generic night clubs or with the few places that survived this maelstrom which are obviously extremely overbooked (to the point where you have to book your show up to 6 months in advance).
This obviously is by far not an ideal environment for a hardcore scene to flourish. We will keep trying our best anyways, since all of us are going to hc shows and playing in bands for well over 10 years now and this feeling we have is just too ingrown now just give in to these hardships.
Even in a socially a somewhat better environment like in pre-pandemic times I feel we always had it harder to consolidate a scene in our region or to get known out there.
The region we’re from, Galicia, lies on the very western edge of continental Europe. It lies so far off, in ancient times it was believed to be the end of the world (it remains on record on a cape we have in our region which was named by the romans “Finisterrae”, which translates to “the end of the earth”).
Oh, yes, it reminds me of FINIS TERRAE by STORM{O}, instantly haha. Great record. . Also, I remember the Finisterrae mention in our feature with experimental dark folk singer-songwriter MAUD THE MOTH.
Damn, this band is one of the few international bands that actually played here! Maybe this has some connection hahahah
Yeah, but back to our homeland, this may seem just like a historical curiosity to some readers, but it still bears a lot of truth in present days. Spain is already considered a country in the periphery of Europe, far away from what is considered the “heartland”. But even within Spain, Galicia is located in the northwestern corner, far away from our national centers of underground culture, which are of course Madrid and Barcelona, respectively 6 and 12 hours away from where we live.
It’s no shocker that international touring bands almost never reach this corner of the world, and even other bands from Spain just come barely.
This made us rely a lot on just local talent, which has had times of darkness with almost no activity around (strictly talking about the “hardcore scene”).
There has been a resurgence lately with a collective we’re part of we’re accordingly named “Land’s End Hardcore” which is kind of our trademark by now. A lot of younger kids who really are pro-active joined the cause, formed new bands (“Fractura” are really noteworthy, some kinda heavy NYHC reminiscing Next Step Up or Bulldoze in our local galician language); something that to some almost 30-year old dudes like us, really lighted a spark to keep pushing again.
Shout out to Land’s End Hardcore, to all present bands that are making an impact in our region like Fractura, Tenue, Al Final Solo Habrá Cenizas, etc.
And to all past glories who really set the foundations like Ictus, Ekkaia, Sem Resposta, Ofensiva (lots of good (neo)crust-core bands who had really an international impact like Ictus or Ekkaia were from Galicia!), to Medusa’s Lair Records for getting in a horrible business like being an underground hc/death metal tape label in this godforsaken place, to (almost) every band we ever played with, to everyone that came to a show, and to everyone that will come in a future.
Are there some more independent labels or zines active in your area ?
Yes, there are a few! Strictly hardcore ones like MLR not, but as I said Galicia is mainly known for its crust-scene, specially back in the mid-2000s, and that style is still reminiscent in some of those labels still active today like Sounds Like Sunday (Eretia, Gros Enfant Mort) or CGTH Records.
I’m personally also a big fan of extreme metal, mainly death metal/deathgrind so I have to put a label of my town that is REALLY underground (like they just have a blogspot and that’s it) called Solucións Extremas. The guy operating this label also ran one of those small DIY spaces where I played dozens of shows that closed down during the pandemic so this one has a special place in my heart, not so much for the stuff he releases but for who’s behind the label.
Awesome. I’ve had a couple good guests from Galicia (or their mentions in other pieces), maybe that’s something you’d like to check out, too: Tenue, Klute, Cuchillo de Fuego, featured on this list, or LA CIENCIA and DESIDIA, mentioned in our interview with Krimskramz Records.
I really aren’t that much of a fan of the crust/screamo scene our region is so known for but TENUE is really a band to look out for. They’re so talented.
