Fake Figures - They Must Be Destroyed

Fake Figures
They Must Be Destroyed
Independent Release

Although boasting some notable members from well known acts such as Atreyu, Scars Of Tomorrow, Hotwire and The Iron Maidens, Orange County/Los Angeles (California, U.S.) based outfit Fake Figures passed under the radar of most when they released their debut E.P. ‘Hail The Sycophants’ (Shillen Records) in late 2011. And it was a shame too, because the E.P. was a pretty interesting release.
A few years have passed since we last heard from Fake Figures, but after a developmental period of more than a year, the five piece act (Comprising of ex-Hotwire vocalist Rus Martin, ex-Atreyu guitarist Travis Miguel, The Afterlife/The Iron Maidens guitarist Heather Baker, Scars Of Tomorrow/SSNOVA bassist Bob Bradley and Nations Afire drummer Steve Ludwig) have finally emerged with their follow-up E.P. ‘They Must Be Destroyed’.
And what a release it is!
Fake Figures open up proceedings in explosive fashion with ‘You Stupid Beast’. Undeniably the heaviest and most aggressive track of the six tunes on offer, ‘You Stupid Beast’ is a speeding blast of hardcore punk, with Martin putting everything into his performance out front. But that’s not to say that the song is a complete barrage of noise. On the contrary, producer/Saosin guitarist Beau Burchell (Whose credits include The Bronx, From First To Last and Underoath) has manage to give the band’s sound plenty of space and dynamics, which brings to the fore the many changes in tempos and differing sounds the band have crammed into the group’s collective song writing. In short, ‘You Stupid Beast’ isn’t the usual run of the mill hardcore/punk that’s usually dished out by most.
On the second track ‘The Light’, the band take a completely different direction with the song sounding reminiscent of The Deftones with its moody atmospherics on the guitar front and Martin’s mix of melodic clean/screamed vocals, while on ‘Normal Life’ and ‘Sit And Burn’, the band focus on delivering a more hardcore/rock based groove where there’s a greater emphasis on the interaction between Miguel and Baker on the guitar front and the melodies from Martin on the chorus front.
‘Ophidian’ is another slower track that isn’t too far removed from terrain the band were exploring on ‘The Light’, although the stoner-like guitar riffs and the cleaner choruses give the song its unique and distinctly different character to separate the two from one another.
Finishing up the E.P. is ‘Here Come The Idiots’, which not unlike the opener is another heavier track, albeit in slower form. Martin again is the star here, with a vocal performance that’s full of venom and pain, while the guitarists provide a suitably menacing soundtrack with their thick and low growling groove.
Although ‘They Must Be Destroyed’ may not be as quite as adventurous as ‘Hail The Sycophants’ in terms of experimenting with different sounds, Fake Figures has still managed to deliver a fairly varied collection of songs that feel more like a band collaboration than in the past.
My only real disappointment is that ‘They Must Be Destroyed’ isn’t a full-length release. I can only hope that will be rectified with the band’s next release – whenever that may be.

For more information on Fake Figures, check out - http://www.facebook.com/fakefigures

© Justin Donnelly