Radical Distortion vs. Mendark - Purple Energy (2005)
26 Дек 2005, 23:58
Radical Distortion vs. Mendark - Purple Energy (2005)
Label:Unicorn Music
Catalog#:UMCD007
Country:Greece
Style:Goa Trance,PsyTrance
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Дебютный альбом Radical Distortion, знакомых посетителям нашего блога по компиляции Apsara, сделанный совместно с проектом Mendark. Хотя мне на этом альбоме понравились все треки, считаю, что первые в музыкальном плане всё-таки переиграли Mendark, их творения звучат поинтереснее. 
Лучшие треки - Equilibrium, The Halloween Project, Inspiration, Psycho Filler. 
Данный релиз рекомендуется всем поклонникам oldschool goa trance.
Review by Psychedelic Mustache on http://psynews.org/
The other day I was discussing the Unicorn label with one of my friends. I've previously only been familiar with the work of their chilled sublabel Cosmic Leaf, but it turns out that Unicorn has been around for years. Now I dont know how well this friend of mine know the label, but he told me that this greek output was a notorious Nitzho-crew releasing stuff he would not even dream of listening to, none the less purchasing. Well, If that was the case in the past, things have definently changed. This is ceirtanly melodic stuff, and to many of todays darktrancers and progheads this might just be a bit over the top. But nitzho? No way! The only track I've previously heard from theese guys was the Radical Distortion track on Suntrip's Apsara comp, which I actually didn't find all that good (The track not the comp). Because of this my expectations were not to high diving in to this...
Let's see how it turned out..
01: Radical Distortion - Equilibrium
"Sometimes...You've got to close one door to open another....". The first track of this album sets the mood imediately. It's light, it's uplifting, it's melodic and most of all it's oldschool. The basslines, the melodies and the beats all create a euphoric feeling, like the one so often present in melodic goa of the mid-90's. It's been done before, ofcourse, but thats besides the point here. Ok track as an opener to the album.
02: Mendark vs Sunhize - 3 On a Tree
On this track Mendark colaborates with someone called Sunhize, a character I'm not familiar with. The track is darker than Equilibrium, but it's by no means dark in comparison to the outputs of the current darktrance scene. It's a pretty pumpung track, the main focus here is bass and percussion together with an overall "mystic" vibe . The production also sounds somewhat modernized compared to alot of the other tracks here, and I'm pretty sure this would work wonders on a dancefloor with the right crowd. It's hypnotizing and puts a smile on my face. One of my favourites on the album.
03: Radical Distortion - Skunk Pack
The track opens with a bunch of distorted voice-samples from some movie I don't really recognize. As the beat kicks in I become somewhat sceptic as the bassdrum is slightly distorted. Gabber? Luckilly no, and this element is also toned down throughout the track. Still it's a pretty "hard" track, and my guess is this is a track that won't be to everyones liking. It has a massive takeoff at the end with lot's of fast-paced melodies, squeaking and the full monty. I find it charming, and it's most ceirtanly dancable.
04: Mendark - It Came Up The Mind
Now this is a real groover. A typical goa kick, some heavy bass and then the rest is all atmosphere and energy, perhaps with with the weight tipping slightly towards the latter element. Floating synthsweeps together with more oldschool melodywork and a variety of bubbeling noises makes this a very plesant experience for both body and mind. Nice.
05: Radical Distortion & Mendark - Purple Energy
In this track we meet Mendark and Radical distortion together, and this is another example of a track where the production and general sound seem somewhat modernized. The rolling basslines here could be the one of almost any full-on act, but the rest of the track does not seem to fit in to the narrow space that makes the borders of this hated and loved genere. there is a sense of building throughout the track, and it follows a pattern of intro - building - takeoff - and then fades into an outro. The melodies here are perhaps slightly darker than those on alot of the other tracks.
06: Radical Distortion - The Halloween Project
Now this is one of those tracks that really gets me in that good ol' flip-out hippie-mood that I remember so well. It's as melodic as it can get, it's massively multilayered, yet most of the melodies have a simple and naive quality. there are several build-ups and takeoffs - this is a track that would have torn appart any dancefloor in '96 and I'm pretty sure it would get alot of people movin' today as well. Excellent track!
07: Mendark - The Only Way
This is another pumping offering, again ultra-melodic and very uplifting. You have your breakdowns, your buildups, your peaks and your takeoffs. You might notice how I'm not extraordinarlily enthusiastic now, and this has it's reasons. For me this track is a good track, no doubt about that, the point is that this could have just been any old' good track. besides I think it might have been nice with some variation at this point. Still, as a stand-alone track it's pretty decent.
08: Radical Distortion - Inspiration
First of all I love the intro of this track. Somewhat tribal, and mystic. There's some synth-choir together with a voice-sample mumbeling something about an alien life form. I can't really make it out. Then the bass kicks inn, and it all starts building. Very trance-inducing, layer upon layer of melodies together with the monotonus, round sound of the goa bassdrum. This is also sort of dark, but not really ofcourse. Very enjoyable track!
09: Mendark - Psycho Filler
Okay, I'm inclined do dislike this track just because of the horrible title, but let's not do that, it just wouldn't be fair now, would it. That being said, this is the track I find the weakest on the album. The melodies lack emotion, and it just sounds somewhat uninspired. It's all about the body and energy, and not too much about the mind, and that sort of turns me off.
Final remarks:
In 2005 there has been several Goa releases allready. Comparing this to for instance Khetzal would not be fair, this is much more dancefloor oriented stuff. Overall I think it's a pretty damn strong collection of oldschool tracks,and a coupple of them are brilliant. Listening to the album as a whole might be a bit too much, though and If I where to point my finger at something I would change it would spesifically be to loose the last track and perhaps add a bit mor variation. That being said - I really enjoyed this! If you're enjoying the whole goa-revival and want more of it, this is the thing I'd get right now.
::Tracklisting::
01.Radical Distortion - Equilibrium
02.Mendark vs Sunhize - 3 On a Tree
03.Radical Distortion - Skunk Pack
04.Mendark - It Came Up The Mind
05.Radical Distortion & Mendark - Purple Energy
06.Radical Distortion - The Halloween Project
07.Mendark - The Only Way
08.Radical Distortion - Inspiration
09.Mendark - Psycho Filler
Total Time: 67:00
My favorites:All
Rating:9/10
Radical Distortion vs. Mendark - Purple Energy (2005)
