Not Just Angine de Poitrine

Some wear sunglasses for extra charisma and a hint of mystery

Daft Punk, Residents, Buckethead, Slipknot, Lightning Bolt, MF Doom, The Locust. The history of pop music is dotted with concealed identities, shielded bodies, presences that choose to withhold themselves from direct view. Where identity is largely staked on the face, on the gaze, subtracting it risks flattening things out; under the right conditions, though, disguise can actually multiply the possibilities.

The sheer variety of solutions on offer is telling: from the minimal coverings of Italy's own Bloody Beetroots or the "masked cowboy" Orville Peck, all the way to the elaborate full-body costumes of America's Gwar and Finland's Lordi. Then there are the eye-catching face coverings of SBTRKT and deadmau5, and the low-cost options like the surgical masks of Clinic or the rubber ones worn by Clown Core (Louis Cole + Sam Gendel... or so it seems). A branching-out that, despite everything, points to a shared process: recombining models to produce an image that mirrors the music, intertwines with it and amplifies its impact.

The strategy has existed for as long as pop music itself, but today it carries more weight than ever. Image has always been a battleground, no less than music itself; what's changed today, though, is what's at stake. Where once building a character served those who already had visibility, to help them assert dominance, today it's often a small lever used to stand out in a saturated landscape. In this scenario, those without structured creative teams - capable of building characters, narratives and public presence in a thorough, systematic way - have to find effective shortcuts: covering the face shifts the game onto another plane, allowing artists, with limited means and a bit of luck, to boost their impact factor.

In an age when artists are asked to put every aspect of themselves on display - to make music and biography (real or presumed) line up - covering the face is a lateral move, one that doesn't fake authenticity but rather suspends it. And that suspension can end up feeling more legible, even more honest, than identities built to look natural.

A covered face draws the eye, but on its own it's not enough to hold it: at best it orients the gaze, bringing into focus a musical identity that already has to work on its own terms. Anonymity, moreover, is neither a value in itself nor a single fixed condition: it can be total, partial or even irrelevant, because what matters is how that choice is built and made to function within the project's context.

In many cases the game plays out on the level of worldbuilding - the construction of a narrative context made up of symbols, settings and recurring figures - which extends the imagery beyond the length of the songs and makes them part of a wider world, exerting a pull that turns the listener into something closer to a devotee.

Some projects also manage to ride the momentum of platforms like KEXP, the American radio station and YouTube channel known for its live sessions. Angine de Poitrine, Austin TV and Glass Beams have all passed through their studios - projects whose strong visual component lets them "pop" on screen and make an impact even when the music itself, taken in isolation, would tend to remain more niche.

Getting noticed and staying out of sight, then, aren't really opposite directions but two facets of the same choice, both aimed at putting the project - not the person behind it - at the center of attention. Portugal's Gaerea put it in no uncertain terms: "We don't think people really care that much about our faces. We don't care: we're not celebrities. [...] If our art is unique enough to define us, we don't need to show our faces." Disappearing, so that what really matters can be seen: that's the paradox - and it's exactly there that the appeal of the move lies.

The twelve examples selected here are just a sample: a small slice of a phenomenon that already branches off in many directions. A good deal of it comes from the metal scene, where audiences have a natural affinity for occult, ritual or sacred imagery. There, partly due to more limited resources compared to the mainstream and to an already crowded field, building a distinctive identity has long been one of the most immediate tools for standing out. But there are many more forms in circulation, and others are emerging right now, often at the margins: the playing field keeps expanding and, one imagines, is bound to shift further in the near future.

Portal (blackened death-metal)

Extreme and deafening, the sound of Australia's Portal is a decidedly experimental blackened death-metal maelstrom. While most metal has stopped being what it once was, drifting ever closer to the mainstream, Portal's music still sounds genuinely terrifying, much like the early thrash records of the '80s or the first black metal albums of the '90s probably did at the time. Their anonymity is guaranteed by the musicians' black hoods (more or less like Mgła) and by the singer's mask, which over the years has ranged from a goat's head to vaguely Eastern-inspired costumes (similar to those of Cult Of Fire). But beyond the visual side of things, Portal's music gives new meaning to the concept of experimentation in the often overly standardized world of metal.

Mgła (black metal)

Nihilism, extremism, disillusionment. These might be the three words that best sum up the philosophy of Poland's black metal band Mgła, who became famous with "Exercises In Futility" (2015), a massive suite divided into six movements. They perform hooded in black leather jackets, impassive in front of the crowd, a testament to a total desire for anonymity, with none of the theatrics typical of so many bands in the same scene. Their monolithic sound and the tightness of their guitar work are their trademark, making them instantly recognizable within an extremely varied scene. Mgła have no truth to shout, unlike Norwegian black metal bands; their aim is to dismantle every belief modern society holds as true, and to accept and submit to the great nothingness enveloping humanity. A philosophy that turns every one of their shows into a collective prophecy.

Austin TV (post-rock)

Austin Tv hail from Mexico City, play instrumental post-rock and were formed in 2001 from the merger of the punk band Fall Children and the grunge outfit Marca Registrada. Their post-rock bears the mark, especially in the early days, of those previous bands' influences (“La Última Noche Del Mundo”, 2003), before lightening its sound and drawing closer to acts like Mogwai, as on the latest LP “Rizoma” (2023). Naturally, they've always performed wearing different masks over the years, becoming something of a cult act especially in Mexico, where the webzine Indie Rocks! and the local editions of GQ and Rolling Stone regard them as a key reference point for the national independent scene.

Imperial Triumphant (avant-metal)

New York avant-metal trio Imperial Triumphant have fused death and black metal influences with electronics and even jazz and classical music (on the widely acclaimed “Vile Luxury” from 2018), with compositions as elaborate as those of Meshuggah and occasional use of brass that makes their sound particularly alien. This evolutionary path, spanning decadent post-apocalyptic atmospheres (“Chernobyl Blues”), deafening instrumental codas of rare violence (“The Filth”) and cinematic references (“Alphaville”), has now been going on for more than ten years and shows no signs of letting up. The golden masks, which recall those from the film “Eyes Wide Shut”, represent the decline of Western civilization, a theme dear to the band.

Ghost (arena rock)

Racking up over eight million listeners takes more than just a striking look: Sweden's Ghost (formed in 2006) have built an empire on a sound that grafts a pop sensibility inherited from fellow Swedes ABBA onto the melodic heavy metal structures of Blue Öyster Cult and Mercyful Fate. At the center of the project is a demonic anti-pope figure – played by Tobias Forge through a series of incarnations, from Papa Emeritus I to the current Papa V Perpetua – flanked by the Nameless Ghouls, musicians who hide their identities behind dark helmets fitted with tubes and respirators. The band's lore unfolds through a meticulously scripted narrative, bordering on wrestling's kayfabe: the leadership role changes hands through "firings" and theatrical twists that keep the cult following constantly engaged. Peaking with "Meliora" (2015), a run of solid releases has turned occult imagery into an arena-rock machine, one capable of turning liturgical solemnity into a vehicle for stadium anthems.

Cult Of Fire (black metal)

Dressed in long colored robes, golden masks and crowns, somewhere between ancient kings, shamans and Indian priests, Cult Of Fire have helped renew the sound (and the aesthetic) of black metal with the spirituality and symbolism of India. Hailing from the Czech Republic, they debuted with the Ep "20:11", dedicated to the Chernobyl disaster, before expanding their audience with the one-two punch of “Triumvirát” (2013) and “मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान” (2014, a Sanskrit title, translatable into English as “Ascetic Meditation Of Death”). Their blend of sprawling black metal with psychedelic ambitions, firmly rooted in Scandinavian black metal, makes their sound particularly compelling for anyone looking for continual renewal within metal. Add to this their aesthetic, the masks and the theatricality of a stage set curated down to the smallest detail, and it's fair to say their live shows rank among the most interesting put on by any metal band in the last decade.

Goat (psych-rock)

Hailing from Korpilombolo, a remote and virtually unknown Swedish village, Goat draw on the tradition of 1960s bands straddling psychedelia and hippie communal living, in a lineage shared with acts like The Fugs and Amon Düül. Their shamanic costumes and ever-present masks broaden the perception of their music, enriching the psychedelic rhythms with ritualistic suggestions that prove especially effective and immersive live. Their songs pursue a hypnotic form of world music that drives collective dancing, aiming for as shared an experience as possible, in an attempt to dissolve the distance between band and audience. Their first two albums remain probably their most interesting, particularly “Commune” (2014), which got them noticed by all the major genre publications.

Batushka (black metal)

Over the last decade, Poland's Batushka have represented one of black metal's many possible evolutions. Their aesthetic, inspired by the Orthodox Church, makes their live shows particularly distinctive, transfiguring the liturgy of their homeland into something dark and blasphemous. Crosses, incense, candles and sacred vestments give rise to an inverted ceremony that conceals the musicians' faces to create ambiguity (some initially thought Nergal of Behemoth was behind it). The music is particularly extreme, and their most emblematic album is probably "Litourgiya" (2015), the manifesto work of liturgical black metal. Unfortunately, various legal wrangles led to the band splitting: Krzysztof Drabikowski and Bartłomiej Krysiuk, the project's two driving forces, went their separate ways, giving rise to two versions of Batushka (initially both keeping the same name). In 2024, Krysiuk decided to rename his band and form Patriarkh.

Gaerea (post-metal)

Active since 2016, Portugal's Gaerea fuse the ferocity of black metal with sweeping post-rock dynamics built on quiet/loud contrasts, a formula that found its most emblematic expression in “Mirage” (2022). The band's anonymity is ensured by black hoods bearing a sigil inspired by the Ars Goetia, the obscure medieval practice devoted to invoking demonic entities; a legacy that, stripped of any ritual intent, serves as the visual centerpiece for the Vortex Society – an urban, dystopian setting reflecting the group's take on modern individualism, translating loneliness into an inescapable desolation. Their recent shift toward a more muscular, immediate sound has pushed the band closer to metalcore, weakening the atmospheric character that defined their early work.

Sleep Token (alternative metal)

Mystery, kitsch theatricality, digital syncretism. England's Sleep Token are among the most talked-about media phenomena in recent metal, having hit peaks of 10 million monthly Spotify listeners (now settled around 5 million). At the center of the project is the enigmatic Vessel, who, alongside bandmates II, III, IV and Espera, stages a ceremony built on dense, esoteric worldbuilding. The masks, somewhere between goth and minimalist, play on stark color contrasts and skull-like features decorated with pseudo-runic markings. Each song is presented as a token, a votive offering dedicated to an ancient deity called "Sleep". While early works like "This Place Will Become Your Tomb" (2021) maintained a certain eclecticism between r&b and Meshuggah-style breakdowns, the global success of "Take Me Back To Eden" (2023) came hand in hand with a more watered-down style, where the synthetic component ends up flattening the variety of genres.

Angine de Poitrine (math-rock)

The Canadian duo from Saguenay, Quebec, made up of "brothers" Khn and Klek, bill themselves as a "Pythago-Cubist Dada mantra-rock orchestra", betting everything on polka-dot costumes and geometric masks. It's a visual apparatus capable of making an otherwise fairly conventional math-rock sound feel radically new to an audience far wider than the genre usually attracts. The game of masks at the heart of the project doesn't stop at the look: the duo touts its use of microtonal scales, but in practice these notes-between-notes function merely as chromatic embellishments over standard harmonic frameworks. Even the architecture of the songs, though rich in quick interlocking parts, rests on elementary rhythmic foundations, often traceable to simple marches in 2/4. One can only hope that the impact of this brilliant showmanship will now shine a spotlight on genuine xenharmonic experimentation – a field that, far from costumes and hype, represents one of the few truly authentic expressive innovations in the contemporary rock landscape.

Glass Beams (neo-psychedelia)

Born in Melbourne during the pandemic on the initiative of multi-instrumentalist Rajan Silva, Glass Beams have moved fast: just two Eps to their name so far, but already well over a hundred dates across the US, Europe and Asia. Their success owes a lot to relentless social media buzz, centered on their intriguing look, with the musicians' faces hidden behind masks made of glass beads and jewels, resembling gilded doilies. This striking visual frame pairs well with the trio's laid-back neo-psychedelia, which blends exotic tones and surf touches into an enveloping funky/lounge sound. The Ep "Mahal", released on Ninja Tune in 2024, best captures the solidity of a project that knows how to combine atmosphere, groove and suggestion: an elegant, streamlined mix, effective as background listening and perfectly tailored to trigger YouTube's recommendation algorithm.

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