In the modern music industry where appearances matter and visual identity sells, would an artist who prefers to remain faceless be able to establish a successful career? 

It goes without saying that most musicians prefer to be recognised for their talents and they’ve acknowledged that deliberately hiding their own identities certainly isn’t going to keep them in the spotlight. 

While anonymity isn’t an entirely novel concept, most are still perplexed as to why some would choose to don eccentric costumes or obscure their features behind masks? Perhaps the adoption of these larger-than-life personas serves to add an air of mystery to these acts and allows listeners to focus on their artistry instead of dwelling upon the superficial. 

Here are 8 anonymous bands and musicians who prove that music can be enjoyed in abstraction from how they look or present themselves to the public at large: 

Dragged Into Sunlight

Dragged Into Sunlight is a blackened death/doom band that formed in 2006. The members of the band remain a secret to this day as they have always worn balaclavas in photos that have been taken of them.

Fun fact: the band plays with their backs turned to the crowd during live performances which are often atmospheric due to the dim lighting and smoke machines used on their set. Produced by Billy Anderson, their album Hatred for Mankind is perhaps their most critically acclaimed release to date. 

Orville peck

Canadian-based country musician Orville Peck can often be seen decked out in full cowboy attire while donning a fringed mask to keep from revealing his identity to the masses.

Peck’s debut album Pony was lauded for its lyricism as it encapsulated the all too human emotions of love and heartbreak through songs such as ‘Dead of Night’ and ‘Roses Are Falling.’ 

BoyWithUke

Up-and-coming TikTok artist BoyWithUke has garnered something of a cult following despite never showing his face. The singer-songwriter has released two albums last year; namely, Fever Dreams and Melatonin Dreams, and has just put out a new single entitled ‘Long Drives.’ 

Portal

Australian experimental death metal band Portal is known for their stage costumes and personas—the vocalist goes by The Curator and the lead guitarist is called Horror Illogium. Interestingly, the vocalist matches the headgear he wears to the theme of the band's current album while performing. If that’s not dedication to his craft, I’m not sure what is. 

If you’re new to Portal’s hybrid fusion of death and black metal mixed in with elements of dark ambient music, you should definitely check out 2013’s Vexovoid and 2018’s Ion, to begin with. Their newest releases AVOW and Hagbulbia were put out by Profound Lore Records in 2021 and are just as ferocious and menacing as their previous full-lengths. 

ULTRA MEGA CAT ATTACK

ULTRA MEGA CAT ATTACK (UMCA) is a Singaporean rock band that has caught the attention of audiences due to their unique visual image which sees each member of the group with a customised cat mask.

While most people who have chanced upon UMCA are probably wondering who they are behind their feline fronts, the sextet intends for their identities to be anonymous so that the focus is solely on their music. As of now, they’ve only released one single ‘009’ on streaming platforms. 

Buckethead

Buckethead is a guitarist who sports a white plastic mask and a KFC bucket-hat with the word ‘funeral’ strewn across it. While the man behind the mask is Brian Patrick Carroll, nobody truly knows much about his appearance or anything about his personal life for that matter.

Regardless of his anonymity, Buckethead has made a name for himself with his solo material in addition to collaborating with legendary bands such as Guns N’ Roses. 

Claptone

German DJ and producer duo Claptone has been renowned in the electronic music industry for being clad in golden plague doctor-esque masks. If anything, their Venetian attires have certainly helped to keep their identity under wraps throughout the years.

While fans initially believed that Claptone was a single entity, they discovered that the house act often performed at two venues concurrently so people eventually deduced that perhaps two individuals are behind the project after all. 

CIKI

The identity of enigmatic South Korean indie artist CIKI remains uncertain to this day as he has only ever put out illustrated album covers of his self-released tracks.

In an interview with Bandwagon, CIKI said: "I would describe my music to be more focused on the vibes than the message. One of my goals is to move people's emotions through my music."

While he has uploaded videos of himself jamming in his bedroom, his face is often dimly lit and nobody really knows what he looks like but that honestly doesn't seem to matter as he lets his music do the talking. Check out his track 'overdose' for starters.