Proud member of Heart for Hard team: Udex just released his second album “Corrupted”. This album is a follow-up of the story he began since his first album: ”Code Red”. Back then he took a turn in his music style to feature rougher sounds combined with the signature melodies we were used to hear from him for many years. While keeping the story in his mind in the releases that followed after Code Red (Return, Dimensions, Blackout, End of the Road), he decided to start his new album, which you can also see as a new chapter of the story he began. Now in 2020 it was time for him to release his second album, “Corrupted”. This new digital story of Udex was reason enough for us, to take a look at this album which features 12 tracks, a prologue, epilogue and the extended mixes.
Artwork
The Heart for Hard artwork is very characteristic yet unique for this new album of Udex. The art has mechanical and futuristic touches that align with the music and the track titles of the cd. The front of the cd case features the spider logo of Udex in the middle and it is edged into a metal frame surrounded by industrial/mechanical elements. The colors used are gray, black and some turquoise. The artwork that is presented really gives a visual idea of the story that Udex wants to tell with his music.
The Album
The album comprises 1 CD with 26 tracks (including the prologue, epilogue and extended mixes) .
Most of the tracks include the impressive voice by Iris Steenhuis. Whether distorted, dreamy, or mystical it absolutely contributes to a strong atmosphere. The tracks themselves are usually characterized by a strong buildup with an intense kick, which belong more to the rawstyle sounds. Around the climax the tracks change to more brighter sounds and catchy melodies which definitely shift more into the Hardstyle world. Especially the brighter sounds and partly acute lead sounds can be seen as Udex his personal signature, because he carries it consequently forward through all tracks. The tracks with Regain & Level One are a bit harder which you can expect of those collaborations. But in all tracks you can clearly hear the presence of the album’s theme and the production style of Udex.
Udex – Tomorrow
This is one of the first tracks that got previewed and it really sticks into our heads. The track starts with a computer animated voice which gives us feeling that it is the epic voice of Hard Bass. The tracks itself leads to a strong buildup and the drop is on point when the epic melody starts. Supported by a strong kick, we got definitely a track that would fit on any Hardstyle stage.
Udex – Corrupted world
A nice female voice with a strident melody part and a solid rawstyle kick. From the beginning to the very last beat, this track pushes merciless forward, while the beautiful voice of Iris Steenhuis reproachfully sings the lyrics of Corrupted World.
Udex – Tears have Dried
An atmospheric voice and intro directly create a teasing buildup. The great thing about this track is that it features all the track titles of Code Red in the lyrics. Tears was also one of the best tracks of the previous album and this continuation of the story is a very creative idea of Udex. The variation of kicks matches the overall track – which got us definitely picked up.
Udex – Its real
A track that is absolutely a highlight which we heard earlier at events where B-Front played it. It directly pushes forward with a strong kick and powerful screeches. Around the first third when a beautiful voice sings the lyrics which get accompanied by high screeches and lead sounds, and creates a marvelous main part – which will get automatically memorized again.
Udex & Regain – Before it kills us
Finally we got collaboration that took place 7 years after being in the same label together. We expected a lot from this track when they first announced it. The result is even more impressive than we expected! The track has a great story about Artificial Intelligence. It features the demolishing kicks by Regain guided by yet another great melody part that we can expect from Udex. The vocals are also on point which makes this an outstanding production.
Udex – Digital Story
This is the final track of the album. It concludes the album in a nice way and the lyrics says a lot about the vision of Udex and the story that he wants to tell. Udex: “Making music is not only finishing track by track, but also making your own kind of story. This is my music. My Digital Story.”
Conclusion
In total Udex delivered with “Corrupted” a really powerful album with strident melodies with the rough sounds that Udex has been implementing since his first album. Therefore we can say that he combines the best of both worlds. Most of the tracks incorporate a nice female voice and with brighter lead sounds around the climax. His kicks are powerful but never too bold or too fast and are very characteristic to point out Udex his own style. It is amazing to see that Udex is able to tell a full story by the great use of vocals, track titles and the overall atmosphere of the tracks. The album itself doesn’t have a high level of diversity, but this is not a disadvantage. Its shows a lot of the abilities of Udex to brand his tracks with his own type of sounds, to give the album the overall Udex style.
The album “Udex – Corrupted” is available at Heart4Hard.nl for € 15,00 Shoplink
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