What a deceptive piece of shit this band is. You see that band name? What’s the first thing you’d expect? Yeah, that’s right: Cynic-style progressive/technical death metal. That’s not at all what you get on The Common Man’s Collapse. A little deduction makes it clear that the band name is really a reference to the deity Maya in various Eastern religions who is chiefly responsible for illusions, deceptions, and cunning ruses (among other things) and not the infamous Cynic song. But if you’re going to name your metal band something, don’t name it after something that has taken on its own separate, specific connotation in that genre! (Yes, I realize that there is a bit of irony to a band intentionally or unintentionally deceiving metal fans by naming themselves after a deceptive deity)

So what does Veil of Maya play on The Common Man’s Collapse? Veil of Maya can only be described as an attempt to merge The Faceless‘ brand of progressive death metal with the chugging song structure of an infinite amount of Meshuggah-wannabe bands and subtle elements of deathcore. Thankfully, the deathcore pandering is kept to a minimum and only rear its ugly head in the vocal approach and every once in awhile in the song structure (see "We Bow Down in Its Aura" and "All Eyes Look Ahead"). However, the majority of the songs to be found on The Common Man’s Collapse follow a pattern of technical chugging reminiscent of the Meshuggah school of writing interspersed between segments of ultra-melodic riffing damn near identical to The Faceless. And I mean damn near identical. It almost makes me wonder why the fuck Sumerian Records signed these guys, what with The Faceless already being on their label. I imagine the brain storming session at Sumerian Records went something like this:

CEO: "We need a new act to supply us with funding to purchase gay midget porn to watch during the day and write off as expenses on our tax return. Who’s our best act?"
Lackey: "The Faceless, sir. They’re touring with Nile and don’t completely suck balls."
CEO: "Genius! We’ll sign The Faceless!"
Lackey: "…uh, we already did."
CEO: "We’ll put brown paper bags over their heads and sign them again, as The Missing Visage. I’m a genius!"
Lackey: "I don’t think we can do that, sir."
CEO: "We’ll then, we need to sign someone like them, but with a distinguishable catch to make it ‘fresh’ like my daughter’s panties. What band do all those scenester kids like?"
Lackey: "I think they’re into A Life Once Lost, and general metal heads like Meshuggah, who A Life Once Lost tries to imitate, as do eleven billion other acts."
CEO: "Are there any acts that do both The Faceless and Meshuggah?"
Lackey: "Well, we just got this demo from Veil of Ma-"
CEO: "VEIL OF MAYA!! EUREKA!!! Isn’t that the name of that song from that Swedish tech death band Skeptic?"
Lackey: "Floridian band Cynic, sir-"
CEO: "NEVERMIND THAT! THINK OF THE SALES! People will buy it for Cynic, and then will massively jerk off when they hear the fellatio between Meshuggah and The Faceless! Sign them immediately! Now come over here, take out your fake teeth, and gum-suck my man-sized manicotti."
Lackey: "Yes, daddy."

Why the CEO and lackey would proceed to have sex while role-playing incest acts, I do not know. This is my hypothetical, not yours, you judgmental assholes. Go imagine your own CEO meetings.

Anyhow, the melodic riffing on The Common Man’s Collapse is pretty catchy, but like so many bands that attempt to go down that Meshuggah road the rest of the music is mind-numbingly boring. I think there are probably bowel movements that are more varied and interesting than the chug parts of this album, with the gurgling and plopping noises that one’s stomach and ass emit while taking a massive, hair-ripping shit. It’s just insanely fucking boring until you hit the melodic parts. And while the melodic parts are catchy- as has been mentioned- you can’t help but feel ripped off; they’re not as well delivered as The Faceless and after a while come off as a poor man’s approximation of that band.

In the end, Veil of Maya will leave you bored and ripped-off- both in name and by its poor man’s The Faceless riffs- and desperately wanting to have a massive bowel movement just so you can listen to Defeated Sanity and wash away the memories of The Common Man’s Collapse with a life-affirming shit. If you’re looking for The Faceless, just get the real damn thing; and if you want technical death metal that does nods to Meshuggah, stick with capable acts like Anomalous and Coprofago (and hell, you’ll even get some Cynic with those acts, too!). Written By: Necro-tron