Object and the mastermind behind, Andreas Malik, counts to one of Germany’s leading projects when it comes to produce pure and authentic sounding Dark Electro music in vain of classic Mentallo & The Fixer, Skinny Puppy, and…
Well, I guess I started a review like this far too often with a comparable introduction. Finally, it isn’t necessary since Mr. Malik has been often a guest here on our web resource with a few reviews as well as with two interviews. So anyone into this special kind of music should be well informed about Andreas and his career, which he started already in 1994. Also in 2022 he’s still vital and active and so he has recently completed his new studio album “Epilogue of Fear”.

Compared to earlier Object albums it can be noticed that Andreas has successfully developed his kind of sound expression and this album gives the listener a perfectly conducted album, which touches all relevant styles out of the Object sound universe. “The Tormented Mind” is a clever placed opening track of this album and surprises with various, fat installed drum patterns in a rather mid-tempo oriented composition. Accompanied by his strongest talent to create soothing, delicate atmospheric pads and evolving textures, no one's gonna asking to have it sounding differently. Also worth to mention is his kind to manipulate his vocals in this rather unearthly sounding, almost Alien-like style. At times hard to understand if one likes to follow the lyrically content, on the hand an intended form to add a human-like additional “layer” to his globally sound outfit.

Second track “Nothing Left Inside” then turns into a rather known Object tune, arranged so typically for Andreas. Definitely a glimpse more catchy produced compared to the rather raw sounding opener, the maestro impresses with his breathtaking layered sequencing work formulating a dense and haunting atmosphere. This one is pretty much following the path of some mid-90s, mostly US-based projects like InformÄtik and/or Pulse Legion.

An imperviously installed wall of filmic sound sculptures opens then “Nowhere To Hide” with various vocal samples supported by aesthetic synthesizer pad sounds until Andreas' cruel sounding vocal performance disturbs the mood of this scoring tune intentionally. This reminds me a bit on his idea to establish a rather Ambient-inspired sounding side-project under the pseudonym “Borderline”. We all know nowadays how this ended, as Andreas at least decided to release “Borderline” as a full-length album under his Object-moniker in 2019. Also the almost instrumental tune “Sprawl / Undone”with its catchy pad and synth layer sounds would be an ideal addition to this almost buried plan for an instrumental side-project.

“Hidden Perception” is to me personally one of the most outstanding tunes of this new Object album because on this track Andreas manages it perfectly to combine almost fragile sounding synthesizer drops in a rather calm, almost catchy sound environment. It is still a dark and eerie sounding tune, but this track also impresses with its ability not to ruin the mood through an unnecessary, overwhelming technological aspect or through over-aggressive vocal interruptions. Yes, Andreas still relies pretty much on his heavily saturated, fx-processed vocal performance but at least here it doesn't disturb at all. If it generally needs a point of constructive criticism, then I tend to call his fx-manipulations on his Alien-like vocals as being a part which could need some refining or at least a bit more variation here and there.

“Memories Dissolved” reminds me pretty much to the opening tune in a good manner, while the title track “Epilogue of Fear” with its almost tarnished percussion loops and its epic, evolving pad sounds leaves the listener once again speechless – maybe this one represents the most Puppy-like tune on this whole album, it's simply brilliant arranged. “Antagonize” follows in the track row of a high-quality produced Dark Electro output and this one features Kai Neugebauer of Les Berrtas and ner\ogris (this is a new collaborative project with Tino Claus of Amnistia / TC75 and signed to Dependent Records - soon more about them...), who co-produced and mixed this tune.

At least with “Last Day” you'll get another instrumental and slow-stalking tune on which Andreas proves again his talent to produce Ambient-like, transitional soundscapes so eerie and haunting. 10 original tracks plus two quality remix contributions by the Hands-recording project Syntech on “Hidden Perceptions” and a classic reinterpretation on “Mescaline Crisis (Epic Clubmix by Wide Dreams)”, taken originally from Andreas' DCD set “Mechanisms of Faith”, released in 2012 on Electro Aggression Records. Especially the last one with Martin Sane of Fix8:Sed8 providing the guest vocals gives this album at least that sort of a stomping dancefloor-oriented tune which has been missed so far. Andreas with his rather mid-tempo-based dystopian compositions lacks a bit of dancefloor compatibility, so this remix seems to be ideal to raise Object towards to the floors at every dark club.

I agree with the given information sheet that “Epilogue of Fear” stands up-to-date to be Andreas' most darkest, pessimistic and dystopian album so far, while this all shouldn't wonder with a fair look on the current times. Precisely mastered by the ultra-talented Vincent Uhlig (2nd Face) and packaged in a beautiful conceived digipak design with a rainy, autumn-like artwork by Caroline Malik, this album satisfies all needs and expectations of a top-notch produced Dark Electro- / Industrial-album of our times.