Premiere: Facial, ‘Black Noise’

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Facial
Facial (Photo by Robin Laananen)

When Cameron Dmytryk, Sam Daggett and Jay Francis started making noise as Facial in 2015, it seemed a fun, and often funny, and sometimes profane, diversion. Here were three dudes who’d all played in other L.A. bands getting together to make ear-splitting noise-rock, thrashing around like they give no f*cks, trading off instruments, yelping and screeching about the things punk-rockers yelp and screech about. They referred to the project as their “Mistress,” which they adopted as the title of their 2016 debut album.

Perhaps unexpectedly, their disquieting diatribes earned notice; they’ve toured with Warpaint and Piebald and set up shop wherever cages need rattled. The trio challenges, not just with their sound but with their deep-seated (and considered) anger. Which boils over on their second album, “Facade,” due Sept. 29 via the Chain Letter Collective. It’s all about “ugly truths,” personal and societal. “Inside of all of us there are things that we try very hard to conceal: animal urges, selfishness, anger, hate, envy, violence, sexuality,” they say. “We push them down and paint an alternate reality on the surface: happy, caring, altruistic, confident, peaceful, benevolent. But when the discrepancy between facade and reality becomes too great, we are forced to confront the facade and to question the fabricated surface realities fed to us all. … We can’t hide forever. One day we will have to unmask.”

The lead track is “Black Noise,” a seething post-punk missile fired across the bow of your comfort zone. Punch something if you must.

||| Stream: “Black Noise”

||| Also: Stream “Animals”

||| Live: Facial plays tonight at the Satellite as part of Nightmare Air’s residency. They celebrate their album release with a show Sept. 27 at the Echo. Tickets.