Faceless Objects is a psychedelic/doom/stoner metal project from Austria that came together in 2020. Since then, the band has released ten singles, each with a coinciding video, which will make up their debut album, Confused, when it drops later in the year.
I discovered Faceless Objects last year, and after following them on Facebook (and adding bassist/vocalist Ella Baphomet on my personal profile), I knew I wanted to interview them. So we made it happen!
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MM: Thank you so much for your time! Let’s dive right in with a basic two-part question. How was Faceless Objects formed? And what’s the story behind the band name?
FO: Faceless Objects was formed in 2020 by Ella Baphomet and Mike Seed (on Mike’s birthday, to be exact). We both always wanted to do something new and different but never found the right people to start. We wanted to combine classic doom metal, stoner metal, and psychedelic sounds, and each song should be a journey on its own – accompanied by a video to make the story of the song visible.
The name Faceless Objects is describing how we as artists see other people. It is more about collecting biometric data than actually seeing the whole face like other people do.
From the beginning, it was only two people who ran everything – composing, playing/singing, recording, mixing & mastering, video shooting & cutting, as well as promotion. And it still is. The only exception is for our upcoming live gigs – playing four instruments at the same time is quite impossible – even for Mike. But finding the right people for our music was a bumpy road.
MM: Y’all have both been involved with previous projects?
FO: We both have our experiences with prior bands or projects of different kinds..but like our lyrics in “Reborn” say…“no turning back, the past is gone”…
MM: Are there any particular bands/artists that inspired y’all to go down this path, as far as creating for the doom/stoner/psychedelic subgenres?
FO: We have a lot of influences…different music styles, bands, artists..but can’t say that there is a particular one that made us go this path. Maybe a mixture of different artists and something that just always was inside of us waiting to surface. But if you want some names…Mike loves Pink Floyd and Rage Against The Machine, and Ella’s favourites are Judas Priest and Alice Cooper.
MM: I love Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd! And I can definitely see where the stoner/psychedelic inspiration comes from if y’all are listening to those artists. Lol.
FO: Nice, we like the same music 🙂
MM: We do. Y’all are from Austria, right? Is there a big metal scene there? (My familiarity with music from Austria is limited, but the few artists I have heard are industrial or electronic. Lol.)
FO: Yes, we are all from Austria, though from different areas. Me and Mike founded the project in 2020 and have been looking for musicians who wanted to share our goals and the love for the music.
The metal scene in Austria got a lot bigger than it was once. There are many bands now, mostly in the genres of death/thrash or speed metal. Not so much in the classic heavy metal or melodic metal genres. But there are still more rock bands than metal bands – and it is very difficult to reach people with original music. So there are a lot of cover bands as well.
MM: I saw a recent post about your upcoming album, Confused. Can you tell me a little more about it? What has been the writing and recording process for this album?
FO: Confused tells a story like a book, and each song is a chapter in that book (each song also has a music video on YouTube). We are telling our stories and experiences, but it was always very important to us to leave enough room for the listener to find themselves and their own meaning in our songs. We always have a journey within the song – it starts out in a certain way and then changes into something completely different, and many people told us how cool it is because you don’t really realize it when you listen to it. You just get taken with the story and the music.
Writing and recording was a step by step thing. We thought about what the next chapter would be about, wrote the song, and recorded it. After that, we made the story visible with a music video. So we did this song by song – and the order the songs were released is also the order the songs will appear on the album. The last song on the first album – “Crossing” – is kind of a cliffhanger. The song fades out..and the first song on album no. 2 will fade in at that exact point, making “Crossing” into “Crossing…Over The Bridge,” a song more than 9 minutes long, full of surprises and changes. The album will also include a previously unreleased bonus track called “Void.”
MM: I like the idea of a coinciding video to visually tell the story. I don’t think bands take time with music videos the way they used to, and I’m the generation that was all about videos. I understand it can be costly, so I’m not complaining.
FO: Absolutely true. Many bands don’t have the money for cool videos, others think it’s not worth the effort as no one watches videos anymore because it’s all about streaming music nowadays. But we still believe that a video helps putting the music on another level.
MM: So y’all have planned the way you want to do the release. I assume the album is going to drop this year? Any other plans for 2024?
FO: Our plans for this year are doing some live gigs with the new band and releasing the album in March/April. We are also working on new material – the first song of the second album is done and we’re gonna shoot the video for it soon.
MM: I like the concept of storytelling. Maybe it’s because I write short stories, but I just really enjoy the full experience of music and imagery.
I have a few more questions, kinda just for fun. What would be your dream tour lineup that features Faceless Objects?
FO: Dream lineup… Well, Judas Priest and Rage Against The Machine, lol. But seriously, we are looking forward to meeting cool and interesting new artists and bands..and if you find some you really connect with those would be the ones for a dream lineup.
MM: Are there any bands/artists you guys listen to that you think would surprise people? “Guilty pleasures,” so to speak.
FO: Guilty pleasures… I think to some it might be surprising that Ella likes Glenn Miller a lot and generally 1930/1940s music. Mike’s hidden treasure is Kraan, a former DDR jazz-rock band.
MM: That is one of the more surprising answers I’ve gotten to that question. 30/40s music. Most people throw out a pop or rap artist.
FO: Haha, yep! 30/40s might not be the first guess with a metalhead, but it’s so soothing and the melodies are so beautiful. They also take you on some kind of journey.
MM: I should probably wrap this up, but I’m curious – are you guys self-taught, or have you had any lessons?
FO: Well, Ella and Mike are self-taught. Mike has been playing guitar since he was a little kid and taught himself to play the other instruments over time. As for the rest of the band, Zoka had guitar lessons and also started playing as a young boy, Mexx had coaching and has his own drum school, and Martin is a classically trained pianist.
MM: Is there any message you would like to give your fans, both old and new?
FO: We thank all our fans for their support and love they continue to give us (and some have been with us from the very start). Receiving feedback like “this song really helped me,” “those lyrics just hit my current situation so well,” or just “I love your music and videos, there is so much to find in there.” But we also wanna say..believe in yourself and your dreams. Don’t let anyone decide what you can do or not. You can do what you allow yourself to do.
And thank you, Melia..for this wonderful opportunity to express ourselves and the really good picked questions. It’s been fun and a pleasure, and I hope we’ll do this again sometime!
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Faceless Objects will be releasing Confused in the spring of this year – and hopefully album #2 will quickly follow. In the meantime, you can immerse yourself in the story via the tracks on Spotify, or the visual side on YouTube. And be sure to follow the band’s socials for news and updates!!!!
Check out Faceless Objects’ most recent single, “Crossing.”
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