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CCL - uNLEASH tHE bEAST
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Rah
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Mar 22, 2006 14:14
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Artist: CCL
Album: Unleash the Beast
Label: Doof Records
Web: http://www.doofrecords.net
CAT: DOOFCD21
Sonic-Energy: http://www.sonic-energy.net/core/content/view/188/2/
01. Intro
02. Banani [143 BPM]
03. Massive [143]
04. LF-Ants [144]
05. Geiger [145]
06. Oob Oob [144]
07. Tie Ripped [145]
08. Scratch [144]
09. Utb Remix [146]
10. ID Slayer [146]
What's this about?
Paul Elfferich (Zebra-N), and Troy Leidich (REV) previously known as Fungus of Light, make up the CCL ensemble. Troy released his latest solo album Inverted last year, featuring hard beats with a funky edge and very mix-friendly material. In REV's album, Could Care Less (CCL) presented the original version of “Unleash the Beast”, which I didn’t agree entirely with. I enjoy their music on an individual basis and I had very shallow knowledge of what CCL was doing, having heard a couple of tracks. Let’s unleash the beast then… that judging from the cover is apparently a flea.
01. Intro *
This is actually pretty decent starter, with ominous vibes and menacing dub beats. Even more disconcerting is the overwhelming jungle vibe, coupled with a voice moaning something or some other, before the static eats it all away.
02. Banani
I’m living in a place that has a small region called Banani. Want to take a wild guess at what kind of fruit they export? At pain of death, for creating yet another meaningless trance cliché Jungle Trance makes an appearance. Just listen to the drums, the trumpet at the beginning and the scathing lines topped with curiously ridiculous samples. At this point the vivid imagery is taken to the point of hearing digital crickets making their damned ruckus, with an interesting pace shift by mid-track.
03. Massive *
The stampede of beats arrives unannounced, introducing organic tambourines echoing like a hammock in the wind. It doesn’t amount to much until the second part, when the main lead starts crunge-ing away. And it’s pretty sweet. It pains me to say so, but it does seem massive for their own particular style.
04. LF-Ants *
If you have ever heard what an ant sounds like -in the discovery channel or something- you can probably pick up the tingling, beady sample skipping along. It’s how they communicate with each other. We go into deep hypnotism before the soundstage evolves in the aftermath of a car crash, most probably somewhere in Mexico (if the voices are any indication of anything). Funny and weird enough, it picks up from introspection a little abruptly with good results nevertheless.
05. Geiger *
A tabla of sorts picks things up with a sample bringing that naive 1950 quality to it. The kid counting in the background or god knows what, adds a little spice to the tribal fusion in the mix. The digital mish mash unfolds atop with the with the usual sounds. Speed-infused, progressive tribal, a-la CCL.
06. Oob Oob *
Another solid beat with a great combo of bass lines gets underway with an evil, delicious laugh. Coincidentally it reminds me a lot of the work Naked Tourist did in the remix of “Three Lines in a Row” for Peak records, which is not easily forgotten. My guess is the might go well together. The final sample got me smiling. Nothing that stands up much, but solid stuff for the floor nevertheless.
07. Tie Ripped *
“It probably really hit me when I got inside crowd, and looked around and began to understand how the craft was operated and finally grasp the whole project –as a whole- as what we were doing. The fact that we weren’t building this thing, we’re trying to find out how it was made, we were back engineering it. When I first got to look inside craft, all I can say is an ominous feeling, you walk in there and… it feels as if you shouldn’t be there. I know it sounds kind of funny, but it is a real ominous feeling, it’s an exiting feeling. Ah, it brings a whole lot of question in the mind. I only witnessed one test flight up close, with virtually no eclipse and a small corona of discharge in the bottom of the craft, indicating the presence of high voltage…” As you can imagine this a beam-me-up-Scotty kind of track, exuding the usual artillery of effects. The real gem for me is the tweaked voice sample by the beginning and the end, like an alien voice rhyming… seriously sweetening the deal. I would have liked to hear that voice more often on this chapter. Or at least a replay by the end to spice transitions.
08. Scratch *
At this point we find ourselves inside the craft while the alien machinery blips and blops, the communication devices are steadily transmitting sonic information, clearly incomprehensible for our feeble little brains. That doesn’t stop it form being really trippy. There is one machine that is defective though and it keeps making this scratchy sound underneath the higher ranges. Trippy stuff for sure…
09. Unleash the Beast (Remix)
After scanning the original track again, the differences are pretty undeniable. CCL stripped and scrapped the original effort and apparently started from zero again. The under tones are the first thing you notice, as they are steep and relentless. Included in the mix: a voice blip of some dude -that could well be the deceaced singer from INXS- doing his thing for a bit. There is a climax this time they seemed to be missing in the original one which adds a bit more rush. Overall, the new beast has also shed new light on the original version, I have come to appreciate under a different light altogether. And even though admittedly I’m not crazy about either one, they are kind of cool… especially this one.
10. ID Slayer
This is a little more tribal than expected but equally steep and fast. In the same vein as the previous tunes, with a great groove to be complemented, but rather uninspiring on it’s own. Yes it is filled to the top with all sorts of sonic attacks coming from every angle, but I do miss when they sneak some sort of strong melodic line, since they know how to build a groove so well. I guess the point was to close the thing and it does just that.
All and all
There is that subtle evolution in the work that makes me think of a hard assed progressive number in most of their tracks -and even though it’s in not going past 146- it feels a lot faster, with alien lines and the repertoire of effects and distortions. I liked most of the tunes, I think they have a future in the dance floor. As one cohesive ride though, the experience might be too smooth to bring out the subtle differences in each track. As a live act it might be a different story altogether, especially if they can conjure that little extra to shine on the performance. Word to the wise, it all seems to fit in more strongly with a cloudy head. The beats in general have that REV gusto, turning into backbone material at one point or another for my kind of pace. The cover is tripped out too, and in my view it reinforces that jungle vibe even more…
Where to get
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=5599
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/doo/doo1cd021.html
http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=2671
  elementoftime.net
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psyntaclaus
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Posted : Mar 25, 2006 11:52
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one wicked album i must say....and yes even though the tracks r not so fast.....but u feel as if the tracks are going above 146 bpm
my favs.... Scratch & UTB(rmx)
You see things; and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" |
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Satanstoenail
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Posted : Mar 26, 2006 09:45
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Really wanna check this out, I've heard good things, but the samples on Saiko and Beatspace won't work and Psyshop only has 1 45 sec sample... What the hell is going on?
Just remember.... in Hell.... there will be doof.... |
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zebra-n
Zebra-N
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Posted : Mar 26, 2006 10:58
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psychocouch
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Mar 26, 2006 13:56
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It's a goodie for sure..loving Lf Ants and ID Slayer  |
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Satanstoenail
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74
Posted : Mar 26, 2006 15:19
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Cheers for the link zebra-n, sounds very cool indeed, I'll be purchasing it for sure. Nice deep groovy minimalish dark sounds, excellent work...
Just remember.... in Hell.... there will be doof.... |
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Rah
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Mar 26, 2006 20:44
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ok, ok so perhaps it wasn't the guy from inxs singing in the UTB remix 
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Minimal Monster
Minimal Monster
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Posted : Mar 26, 2006 21:56
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full_on
IsraTrance Team
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Posted : Mar 30, 2006 19:22
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My review:
ccL - Unleash the Beast ( Doof, Mar. 2006 )
ccL (Could Care Less) is Zebra-N (Troy Leidich) and REV (Paul Elfferich), both from Amsterdam, Netherlands. This is their debut album, released through Doff Records, a label that usually releases night related music, but not the "evil dark stuff". REV has released his debut album last year, but I must confess I did not listen to it.
There are no mention to track times or BPMs anywhere. The CD comes with a nice DJ insert, displaying the sample art of the back of the CD, however the track names are shown in a confuse way, and the bpms are not there.
The mastering was made by Disc Master @ Tel-Aviv Israel.
Cover:
http://212.227.206.198/cgi-bin/zoom.cgi?doo1cd021_b.jpg:CDs/doo/doo1cd021.html:;
The cover art was made by http://www.cut-up.org and is very green, with some pictures of ants and a drawing of an ant.
Track List:
00. ccL - iNTRO - 1:55
01. ccL - bANANI - 7:48
02. ccL - mASSIVE - 7:17
03. ccL - LF-ants - 8:00
04. ccL - gEIGER - 7:57
05. ccL - oOB oOB - 7:05
06. ccL - tIE rIPPED - 8:05
07. ccL - sCRATCH - 7:38
08. ccL - uTB rEMIX - 6:44
09. ccL - Id sLAYER - 7:05
00 - iNTRO --> The album begins with an intro. Well, I did not like this intro. Let skip it.
01 - bANANI --> The first dance floor track here has 143 bpms, but the track passes through a lot of variations, getting very dense in the middle. There are a lot of unintelligible samples and voices through the entire track. 
02 - mASSIVE --> I enjoyed a lot the beginning of this track, this is some sort of minimalist approach to dark psytrance. Night sounds again at 143 bpm, and the second part of this track sounds steadier and more populated by psychedelic elements. Very good for me.
03 - LF-ants --> LF-Ants is a little faster, and has a continuous bass line with psychedelic elements placed in a curious way. There are some bass variations in the middle of the track, and their sound too weird for me, some times it sounds like if there were two kicks together, but except from that it's a very psychedelic tune. 
04 - gEIGER --> Geiger is psychedelic from the beginning, it has the best bass up to now in this release and 145 bpm. Also a tribal feeling is transmitted through in some parts, a siren, and a long sample. It gets scary in some parts and funny in other parts, I really enjoy it. Excellent track. 
05 - oOB oOB --> Beginning this next track is a crazy laugh, the track has 144 bpm, but its bass makes it sounds much faster.
06 - tIE rIPPED --> Wow, this track begins with a long sample, about a guy exploring an alien spaceship. The kick and bass combo at the beginning is strong, but the track is more hypnotic than energetic. An alien voice makes company to us during out journey, it the longest track here, nice one.
07 - sCRATCH --> Scratch has what I think we can call a fat bass. I can't describe what I hear here, but for sure it pleases me. Very psychedelic synths and effects, and good to dance. At some point there is a beauty female voice contrasting with the whole idea of the track, these guys are crazy. One of my favorite tracks here. 
08 - uTB rEMIX --> This is the remix to Unleash the Beast, released on REV's album. It's a 146 bpm dance floor banger, its structure is much more full on than the ones on the previous tracks and this is the shorter track here. The first voice sample sound terrible to me. However, I understand that this is a more direct dance floor approach to the ccL style, and to be honest it sounds good.
09 - Id sLAYER --> closing this fine album we have another 146 bpm dance floor twister. This track has a bit of everything, some tribal elements, pounding bass lines, an interesting kick work, some apparently random synth sounds, some other carefully place synths and effects, a nice nightly atmosphere and enough power to shake the floor. It seems to loose a little of it potential near the end, but overall it's a steady and good track.
Also read here: http://www.isratrance.com/www/reviews/show_review_details.php?show=828
Verdict: 7/10. This release contains 9 previously unreleased tracks (and an intro track), which means near 70 minutes of music, the tracks share the same style, but are different in their approaches. There are no build ups and explosions, unlike most night full on out there, and this is a very positive point. In my opinion what could be better is that some times some tracks sound too noisy, like Banani, maybe it's a mastering problem, maybe it's just my ears.
Favorites (from zero to nine): 2, 4(!), 6, 7(!), 8, 9.
Recommendation: I recommend this release to the people who like night music, but want something different from the "evil and scary dark psy". Also if you enjoyed the previous Doof Records' releases there is a strong possibility you'll like this one.
Buy it here:
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/doo/doo1cd021.html
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=5599
http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=2671
Respect!
.
...Be gentle with the earth...
...Dance like nobody's watching...
.
...I don't mind not going to Heaven, as long as they've got Coffee in Hell... |
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DeathPosture
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 4, 2006 19:57
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ccL – uNLEASH tHE bEAST
Cover: http://tinyurl.com/jru6o + http://tinyurl.com/jdap7
Artist: ccL (The Netherlands)
Title: uNLEASH tHE bEAST
Format: CD (digipack)
Label: Doof Records (Israel)
Cat. #: DOOFCD21
Distribution: Arabesque
Date: March 2006
Track listing:
01. 01’55” Intro
02. 07’47” Banani
03. 07’17” Massive
04. 07’59” LF-Ants
05. 07’57” Geiger
06. 07’05” Oob Oob
07. 08’04” Tie Ripped
08. 07’38” Scratch
09. 06’43” Utb Remix
10. 07’05” ID Slayer
.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/zjt53 (all tracks!)
Review:
aNTS iN tHE pANTS…
From Israel’s most nocturnal label, Doof Records, comes the debut album from ccL. This duo consists of the flying Dutchmen Paul Elfferich (Zebra-N) and Troy Leidich (Fungus Of Light/Rev/Rev Particle). I haven’t heard much of Leidich’s stuff, but I’ve heard a bunch of Elfferich’s compilation tracks and this guy has yet to let me down with his dark, twisted take on murky psytrance. I’ve often been impressed with his distinct, twisted work – and I’m hoping he’ll take some of that edge with him onto this album…
Let me take you thru the tracks…
#01: Intro
The intro is a gruelling, gruesome preview of what’s about to happen… It’s somewhat dubby and introvert, but it flies pretty well… And I would have liked it even more if it had been longer…
#02: Banani [143 BPM]
The first dancefloor track starts with the familiar sound of jungle drums – they are soon brutally shredded in half by a razor-sharp, relentless bassline from hell… It’s accompanied by some severely focussed acid-lines and some evil knievel synth experimentation… There are a couple of very dubious passages here, but generally I like how this track keeps evolving… There are more than a few surprises here – something that will work wonders on the dancefloor… Nice!
#03: Massive [143 BPM]
“It’s more than a piece of paper!” Massive is indeed massive! We’re still deep in ccL darkpsy, but this track is much more riddled in acid and electro than the previous one… The level of knob-adjustment and hardcore tweaking, sequencing and filtering going on here is simply impressive – and gives the track a very interesting punch… Massive reverbs! [Pun intended!] I’m totally rocking out to this one!
#04: LF-Ants [144 BPM]
And now it’s time for some psychedelic ants-in-the-pants… As the pace quickens, the acid level also goes up and this is one severely hard-hitting piece of dancefloor fodder… It’s not as versatile as the previous track and it does seem a little monotonous at times… What saves the track though, is the very interesting bassline that’s tied up to some outer worldly acid-kick-thingy… It’s hard to describe really… Not a bad track, but there are no jaw-dropping moments either…
#05: Geiger [145 BPM]
The next track is a little more full-on’ish… Don’t get me wrong, this is not full-on – it’s just a little more uplifting than its grim, pounding predecessor… The intro is bursting with condensed energy – and it’s just waiting to explode… When it finally does, it’s to a tribal-like rhythm section and a subtle bassline… Very refreshing and surprisingly trippy too! Reminds me of Penta with its oddball twists and turns… A very lovely tune!
#06: Oob Oob [144 BPM]
“Oooooh shit!” Just like Hyper Frequencies, Para Halu, Phi, Kluster and N3xu5 have done before them, ccL cleverly incorporates laughing samples into this crackpot track… This is druggy, acid-ridden, high-pitched party music… The ultra-high frequencies can get a little over the top at times and I think other acts master this distinct style of psytrance better than ccL… Also, the acid lines sound too retarded and they start to bug me eventually… It’s not a bad track at all – in fact there are several groovy moments, but as a whole I don’t really think it holds up…
#07: Tie Ripped [145 BPM]
“It probably really hit me when I got inside the crowd, and looked around and began to understand how the craft was operated and finally grasped the whole project as a whole as what we were doing. The fact that we weren’t building this thing, we’re trying to find out how it was made, we were back engineering it. When I first got to look inside the craft, all I can say is an ominous feeling, you walk in there and it feels as if you shouldn’t be there. I know it sounds kind of funny, but it is a real ominous feeling, it’s an exiting feeling. Ah, it brings a whole lot of question in the mind. I only witnessed one test flight up close, with virtually no eclipse and a small corona of discharge in the bottom of the craft, indicating the presence of high voltage!” We start with a lengthy UFO-sample – very reminiscent of the old days… But there is nothing old about the alien music that follows… The guys seem to have found the balance between dancefloor mayhem, raw nocturnal night time basslines and acid… This is the perfect hybrid of all those – resulting in a very trippy, danceable and groovy track… One of the best tunes of album!
#08: Scratch [144 BPM]
Following in the footsteps of the previous track, this is another venture in to sci-fi night trance – with a couple of surprises thrown in just to break the mould… The biggest surprise is the female vocals which I did *not* see coming… But they are a welcome – and experimentation like that is what grabs and retains focus… And some of that same experimentation would have worked wonder in the second half of the track which has a couple of stale moments… Still a tasty track though!
#09: Utb Remix [146 BPM]
My sources (Well, my buddy Guillermo) tells me that Utb is an acronym for Unleash The Beast – a track which was originally featured on Rev’s album Inverted (Doof/2005) – and now remixed for this album - and coincidentally being the title track… Now I haven’t heard the original, so I can’t really comment on it… What I can do, is sit back in awe and listen to this raging mad, piece of nocturnal horror trance… Galloping away at an incredible speed this is definitely not for the fainthearted… This is pure evil, relentless, four-to-the-floor material… Very energetic and it would have been the perfect party tool if it wasn’t for those horrible voice-samples… That singing is downright horrible… What a shame, coz otherwise this is a pretty awesome track – but I can’t seem to get past those hideous samples…
#10: ID Slayer [146 BPM]
The final track doesn’t seem as fast as the BPM would indicate – and definitely not as fast as the previous one… Anyway, what we get here is pretty standard ccL stuff… A pounding, morphed-with-acid bassline accompanied by all kinds of trippy FX… Nothing overly exiting, but nothing too boring either… It’s just plain good, wholesome psytrance… A tasty way to end the album…
I didn’t really know what to expect when I first got this album. Well, I knew that Zebra-N was a very skilled producer, but on the other hand, Doof Records have often been criticised for mass releasing an endless stream of mind numbing, spirit crushing CDs in larger numbers than teenagers at a Skazi gig… But I’m happy to say, that this debut album isn’t just a pointless release – it holds some excellent music! Sure, there are a couple of tracks that wasn’t as good as previous Zebra-N material, but also a bunch of tracks up to par with his older, mostly wonderful work… Another important thing here is the level of variation. The so-called darkpsy can often become too boring, too fast – but that’s not the case here as the guys excel in surprising little twists and turns… Well done!
So whilst this might not be an essential album, it surely is worthy of a purchase for fans of kaleidoscopic night trance… I’m not a big fan of the AOL-type writing on the artwork, but besides from that the cover is much better than what we’re used to from Doof Records. Also thumbs up for the Case Logic friendly DJ slip (if it had featured BPMs it would have been double thumbs up!). All in all, a pretty nice album – which fans of labels such as Parvati and Trishula should definitely not miss out on… Enjoy!
Favourites: 2, 3(!!), 5, 7(!)
DeathPosture
External links:
ccL: http://www.ccl.dds.nl
Doof Records: http://www.doofrecords.net
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/658189
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/gjaja
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/gy2pu
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/kew62
Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/ktzkj
Chaos: http://tinyurl.com/fw8jw
Ajuca: http://tinyurl.com/fqq25
Juno: http://tinyurl.com/elg9e
On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion... |
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bearpill
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : May 5, 2006 05:24
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Must rate as one of the blandest cds this year i think.
Minimal sounds with a few squeeks here and there and EVERY single song's bassline the same.
When Doof recs get it right its good but when they get it wrong its bad. Think Kopsess on this one.Its bad. |
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Rah
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : May 5, 2006 07:14
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Quote:
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On 2006-05-05 05:24, bearpill wrote:
Minimal sounds with a few squeeks here and there and EVERY single song's bassline the same.
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sorry mate, but that's just no true listen better... there's several great bass lines, ooB being one of them Tie Ripped being another, or massive just as an example. and none of those are remotely similar... in my ears anyway...
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Acidhive
IsraTrance Full Member
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2014
Posted : May 5, 2006 13:00
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Hmmm. Well, I think this is rather ok. Better than the Rev album in my opinion. And remember, it's all about taste. The 'Kopsses' album to me is better than the Entropy album for instance. Anyway, some good dark psy here, bit minimal, bit squeaky. But all the right ingredients for some good nighttime stomping. It isn't really all that fast either, which makes for a welcome change from all the fast stomping tracks released lately. And while this album could have done with some more diversity (just like the Rev album) this does what it sets out to do nicely. Try this, you might like it.
"Subconscious unravels at the point of death, and all time it has known erupts into a moment. As death extinguishes us, so we become it."
[Esoteric: Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum] |
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lokus
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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684
Posted : May 18, 2006 12:59
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i got this album a couple of days ago
and i think its ok.
the first four tracks sound the same.
same basslines, same sounds...
from track 5 on there a changes and i like it more.
but there too much of the rev sounds and its getting boring.
the tracks would fit nicely on compilations but for an album there is too few variation imo
boom
- last possible solution
- trick music
- ambivalent records
myspace.com/lokuz
ps: y trance?
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Satanstoenail
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
74
Posted : May 18, 2006 15:34
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I dig this cd. It's refreshing to hear some more groovy night stuff as opposed to 150 bpm killah... The dj inlay is terrible though, messy writing, no bpms and the intro is on there as track zero, which means the tracks are all out by one... ah well.
Just remember.... in Hell.... there will be doof.... |
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