2nd Face – utOpium (Album – Dependent)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, EBM, Industial.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: 2nd Face hit the scene in 2017 wit the great album “Nemesis”. Six years later the German project driven by Vincent Uhlig hits back with a new opus featuring ten songs. There’s also a limited edition featuring an extra disc with six more songs.
Content: “utOpium” moves on where “Nemesis” stopped. An extremely dark and tormented work somewhere in between Dark-Electro and the Canadian EBM school reminding me of Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy. The work is filled with bombast and heavy sound treatments; a sophisticated composition achieved with Industrial elements and lead by ghost-like vocals.
+ + + : “Nemesis” took me by surprise and I can imagine it was a true challenge to Vincent Uhlig to strike back with a new album of the same, high level. Well it was worth the wait as “utOpium” reveals new, great stuff. Even if this kind of Electro isn’t new at all, the composition reveals an impressive maturity featuring great writing skills. You feel a bit like moving through a sonic mayhem crossing genius cuts like “Underneath The Silence”, “Vox Irae” and “Mydriasis”.
– – – : In my humble opinion “Nemesis” maybe featured more potential hits than “utOpium” but it however is a great piece of music.
Conclusion: 2nd Face confirms its impressive potential and might be pointed as one of the most visionary artists in the Dark-Electro/Industrial genre.
Best songs: “Underneath The Silence”, “Vox Irae”, “Mydriasis”, “Formula Extinction”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/iindface
Label: www.dependent.de / www.facebook.com/dependent.records Read the news on ‘utOpium’.
About 2nd Face
2nd Face is the industrial project of German musician Vincent Uhlig, formed in Mainz in 2014. After a run of five demos that year, the project self-released the single “First Of His Name” in 2015, leading to a deal with Dependent, which issued the debut album “Nemesis” in 2017. “utOpium” is 2nd Face’s sophomore album, expanding Uhlig’s sound design with vintage synthesizers including the EMS Synthi AKS and the PPG 300 modular system, and was preceded by the single “Formula Extinction”.
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