Save Face have always been an ambitious band. Formed in 2012, the New Jersey four-piece only released their debut full-length, Merci, in 2018. You could hear why it took so long, though – a highly thought-out concept album about a recovering drug addict called Caleb, its songs were full of a moody, dark atmosphere, all minor chord heartwounds that bristled with suffering, courtesy of frontman Tyler Povanda’s earnest, raw delivery. This follow-up does a complete 180 – to the extent that it almost sounds like the product of a different band. Gone are the glowering, gloomy songs full of tension, replaced by more macabre theatrical anthems about death and dying. In fact, these 11 songs almost sound as if they were written for a stage show, something very much...
