Face Off- "Lush" Single

Maple Metal Records
2014
  
Hailing from Belgrade, Serbia, Face Off is a female-fronted alternative metal act which previously released their full-length debut, "The Colour of Rain" at the start of 2013. With a sophomore release planned for later on in 2014 (or possibly even 2015!) the band, which is bolstered by the haunting voice of Marija Kovacevic, recently released the single "Lush" to tide over fans while they wait for the next step in this creative band's existence. After taking a look at their influences (Deftones, Portishead, Massive Attack, Lacuna Coil, Katatonia, Isis, Gojira, Placebo, Tool, Mogwai, Oceansize, The Gathering, Bjork, etc.) and then having explored their back-catalog* it's clear to see that Face Off (Marija Kovacevic, guitarists Stefan Vitasovic and Aleksandar Djordjic, bassist Stanislav Stanojevic and drummer Zoltan Simon) has gracefully evolved between releases. Whereas "The Colour of Rain"** relied a little too heavily on it's influences (and came across as a hair more gothic then this excellent new single) "Lush", which can be checked out in full at either of the two links that follow this piece, shows a band fully capable of expressing themselves without wearing their influences on their respective sleeves. It's not that hard to envision this Serbian act taking the next step up towards more world-wide exposure as front-woman Marija Kovacevic has an amazing voice (not sure why but she reminds me of a more metal-minded Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) although quite honestly she has (aptly) been compared to ex-The Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen and that seems more then a little fitting as well!) and her band-mates expertly encircle with smooth playing that really eases the senses. Most certainly this soothing piece won't be for everyone, but for those who truly love all the different flavors that rock and heavy metal come in (and live by the motto that variety is the spice of life and death!) an atmospheric release such as this one is also a welcoming site to beyond!

You can download "Lush" here: http://faceoffonline.bandcamp.com/

The official video for Video of "Lush": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzDWs4t3DHo

*You can actually hear their full-length debut album, "The Colour of Rain", in it's entirety on Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCQ6TH9OxhU 

**Regardless of whether or not one can hear this band's various influences on their debut album (as well as, oddly enough, Evanescence) it's still a creative (and downright atmospheric!) alternative metal album that was a real pleasure to stream!