Face Yourself - Martyr EP
- Samuel Stevens
- Apr 16
- 3 min read
On Martyr, set to be released on April 18, 2025, and their Sumerian Records debut, transcontinental deathcore collective Face Yourself delivers a body blow of catharsis, chaos, and confrontation. Building upon their DIY roots and refined under the production mastery of music producer Joey Sturgis (Asking Alexandria, The Devil Wears Prada, Of Mice & Men), this EP sees the band sharpening their already punishing edge, while peeling back layers of emotional vulnerability in a way few bands in the genre dare to tread.
At just five tracks, Martyr doesn’t waste a single second. It’s a compact but devastating listen that captures the cyclical nature of mental health struggles—equal parts empowering and agonizing. Face Yourself don’t present healing as a victory lap, but rather as a messy, non-linear battlefield where strength and relapse constantly intertwine.
“Primal” opens the EP with no warning, throwing listeners headfirst into a maelstrom of blast beats and primal screams. It sets the thematic tone immediately—raw, unfiltered, and relentlessly introspective. There’s a terrifying honesty here that refuses to sugarcoat trauma.
“Predatory” follows with a chilling narrative that takes metaphorical cues from a night gone horribly wrong. Its mid-tempo stomp is as menacing as the tale it tells—vivid imagery matched by Yasmine Liverneaux Belkhodja’s guttural roars and soul-searing screams. Her voice is a central weapon throughout Martyr, weaponizing pain into fury and grief into resistance.
“Saboteur” is one of the EP’s most sonically ambitious cuts. Alternating between shrieking chaos and eerie, melodic bridges, it captures the essence of self-destruction—fighting a war inside your head that feels impossible to win. The riffs are angular and jarring, the breakdowns crushing, but it’s the haunting clean guitar passages that stick like scars.
“The Poet” slows things down, momentarily replacing rage with reflection. It's not soft by any means, but its dynamic restraint adds depth, proving Face Yourself can devastate with slower, paced out chugs from the guitars, and a slower tempo, just as much as sound. "The Poet" also ends with Belkhodja growling a passage in French.
Finally, “Sideration” closes the EP with a black hole of despair and hope intertwined. A fan favourite since its release as a single, “Sideration” is the soul of Martyr. The track’s crushing density is balanced by piercing lyrical imagery: “Trying to catch the light” evolves into “I now see the light,” offering a rare moment of clarity amidst the storm. It’s a journey through trauma, dissociation, and the desperate search for self. The accompanying music video, edited by Max Moore, visually amplifies the band’s visceral energy while also emphasizing the surreal, dreamlike dissociation explored in the lyrics.
What makes Martyr so powerful is its duality. The EP is as brutal musically as it is emotionally resonant. Face Yourself isn't just screaming for the sake of aggression—they’re screaming because it’s the only way to survive. With members from the U.S. and France, their geographic diversity translates into a dynamic sound that fuses Myspace-era nostalgia with modern deathcore brutality, channelled through a socially conscious lens.
Martyr is more than just a heavy record—it’s a lifeline for anyone who’s ever felt swallowed by their own mind. It’s visceral, unapologetic, and unflinchingly human. With Joey Sturgis behind the board and Sumerian Records in their corner, Face Yourself are no longer just a promising underground act—they’re a band stepping fully into their power, ready to leave a permanent mark on modern metal while being relentlessly heavy and emotionally honest, Martyr is Face Yourself’s most defining and devastating work to date.
Comments