YOUNG GODS
SECOND NATURE
ALBUM INTOXYGENE RELEASE: OCTOBER 23, 2000 REVIEW: NOVEMBER 30, 2000

The Young Gods is one of the most brilliant bands Europe has ever produced. Having said that, the changes they've been going through after releasing "TV Sky" in 1992 (boy, I feel so old…) have been a little unsettling.
Franz Treichler and his ever-changing band set-up have been messing around with most musical styles, using circus music, heavy metal, German popular music of the twenties and techno for their own queer purposes. I've always loved their irreverent and inventive use of sampled guitars that reached its peak on "TV Sky". On the next album, "Only Heaven" they were moving into ambient, and the explosive riffs were practically gone.
"Second Nature" is more firmly a techno album, taking off where "Kissing the Sun" started on the previous one. Treichler still delivers his patented surrealistic rants in English and French, but the verse/chorus formula has mostly been replaced with collage-like song structures, driven by hypnotic beats.
Compared to "Only Heaven", "Second Nature" sounds more focused, as if the band has gotten closer to finding their new sound in the digital world. Peculiar sampled noises used for beats here and there, not to mention Treichler's unmistakable streams-of-consciousness, remind you that this is no ordinary electronic act.
Still I miss the explosive power of older tracks like "Night Dance", that threw you off your feet when coming out of the speakers.

MATTIAS HUSS