ALBUM REVIEW: Airwave - Dark Lines

Laurent Veronnez aka Airwave is definitely one of the more outstanding figures in the trance scene's history. A very talented producer and a hard working individual who has always been part of the scene for the right reason - the love for music - and has never compromised what he stands for. He's responsible for many of the biggest trance classics (mostly) in the 90s and early 00s under "hundreds" of different aliases.

I've always been a big fan of him as a producer, DJ and a person aswell. Needless to say I was very excited when he announced that "2012 will be a big year for Airwave" at the start of this year. He promised a big comeback and he soon started to make true on that promise with his first singles Atlas Winds, Chiricahua, Cathedrals of Hope and Reset. Sometime in that period I also found out he'll be releasing an album later this year, which was already in the making for a long time, so I immediately got my hopes sky high. A real trance album from a legendary trance artist in these dark times when cheese rules supreme? Hell yes!

Now, after quite a few months of waiting, the album has finally been released. I've been listening to it non-stop since Monday, so here are my thoughts:

The Absolute Relativity (vs John 00 Fleming)

What a way to start the album! The Absolute Relativity is everything I consider trance to be. It's a real musical journey through dark and trancey sounds combined with powerful kicks and some acid lines. It's one of those tracks where you can just close your eyes and let the music carry you. One of the best trance tracks I've heard this year and therefore a serious Tune of the year contender.

Score: 9.5/10

Atlas Winds

We continue with a track that caused some controversy when it was released as a single earlier this year. Apparently the vocals in the first version represented some silent prayer and were inappropriate to use in music. The version on this album includes the new/changed vocals.

Airwave again managed to create a very trancey atmosphere, but this time with a very middle-eastern vibe. The melody is catchy, dreamy and the background vocal samples complement it nicely. The track takes a long time to build up, but it never gets boring and we're rewarded with a powerful climax.

Score: 9/10

Romeo and Juliet (vs Nico Parisi)

This one is a bit more monotone than the first two. The build is very long, relaxing and is accompanied by some female vocal samples and a silent melody in the background. After the break the kicks sound harder and the track feels more aggressive.

Score: 8/10

Cathedrals Of Hope

It's been 6 months since this one was released as a part of an EP and it still hasn't lost any of it's appeal. Overall sound-wise it reminds me a lot of the well known Airwave track When Things Go Wrong. It's a very dreamy, trancey tune with a somehow rougher edge.

Score: 8.5/10

Chiricahua

The first and last breaks track on the album. This is one of those tracks where it almost feels like the music is painting a picture for you to see. The track starts off with some lovely flute and drum sounds and it felt like I'm watching a sunrise on a cold, misty morning. Later on when the beats and melodies start kicking and the track gains "life" it feels like a journey through different landscapes.

Score: 8/10

At Last (vs Philippe Van Mullem)

This track sounds like it was taken directly from the 90s. It has one of the tranciest melodies I've heard for a long time and in addition it feels euphoric aswell. The buildup is epic and the break that follows is short but magical.

Score: 9/10

A Simple Day (vs Michael & Levan and Stiven Rivic)

The build in the first third is more on the groovy side with some vocal samples and a catchy beat. That is followed by quite a long break, where the track turns more to the dreamy side. The last part is kinda the downside. There isn't much going on and it just feels like it's lacking something that would draw the listener in.

Score: 7/10

Particles Of Love (vs Astropilot)

Love the bassline here. It almost feels like it's cutting straight through my ears. The melody is very trancey yet again and the overall vibe is dark, sad and melancholic just the way I love it. The short acid lines, which appear throughout the track are a great addition aswell. Another gem!

Score: 9/10

Taketetcha

Great drive in this one. It just keeps on going and feels stronger and stronger as it progresses. The deep bass is awesome and the percussion is top notch.

Score: 8/10

Reset

This time we continue with some tribal vibes. I don't consider myself a big fan of tribal chants in trance, but they work pretty good here. The track as a whole is filled with energy and the chants just add to that.

Score: 7.5/10

Kabalash (vs DJ Fire)

More tribal vibes here, but this time through different sounds - mostly flute and tribal drums. The flute sounds lovely and the drums are immensely catchy. That combined with a strong kick creates a track that would rock any club. This it the type of tribal trance, which I really miss nowadays and I it's something I would certainly dance my a*s off.

Score: 8/10

Oyama

It does have a pretty nice trancey vibe, but in the end it doesn't seem to go anywhere. It's somewhat enjoyable, but I feel like it's lacking that something extra.

Score: 6.5/10

Above The Sky 2012

The original is great, but this is an amazing remake. The melody sounds a lot richer, the addition of tribal chants adds to the energy and the acid lines are really awesome. It's also filled with energy from the start and it just makes me wanna dance.

Score: 9/10

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Closing Thoughts

I'm happy to say that my high expectations were met completely. Airwave has once again proven that he's still one of the best trance producers out there. This album is a real trance gem and will probably also be my album of the year. It's filled with rich productions, trancey melodies and strong beats that would rock any club. In addition it manages to provide a lot of diverse styles ranging from very trancey stuff, to tribal influences and even the more uplifting sounds.

There's not much else to say, really. If you're a trance fan, go and buy the album now. It's too good to miss.

Overall Score: 9/10

EDIT:

After numerous more listens I've decided to downgrade Particles Of Love and At Last to a "9" and upgrade Atlas Winds to a "9".

ALBUM REVIEW: Markus Schulz - Scream

There are two sides of Markus when it comes to his artist albums. The first are albums made under his alias Dakota, which contain more darker, deeper, progressive tracks and aren't as mainstream as his other side. The latter are albums under his name Markus Schulz, which usually contain more vocal collabs and are generally more mainstream oriented. His previous Markus Schulz album - Do You Dream - was already very hit/miss for me, so when he announced that a new one is in the making I didn't get my hopes high. Another reason for this is definitely the short time span between his albums. DYD was released in 2010, the 2nd Dakota album in 2011, so I immediately thought "he's already making a new one? This can't be good."

After the first announcement, a lot of time had passed until we heard more news. Then came May when he debuted his first single Caught, featuring the singer Adina Butar. I hated this track as soon as I first heard it and I could only hope his album would not take this direction. My hopes were pretty much crushed when I saw the tracklist some time later. It showed that the album would consist of 23 tracks out of which 13 are useless vocal collabs, which is WAY too much. But I guess we really can't expect anything else from an artist album released on sh*tty Armada. I took my time and listened to the album anyway, so here are my thoughts*:

*Mind you, I listened to and am reviewing the extended mixes


Our Moment

Very nice intro. It manages to setup a pretty epic atmosphere, which sadly doesn't match the rest of the album at all.

Score: 7/10

Loops & Tings (vs. Ferry Corsten)

Here's the first "oldie" on the album. I think it's a pretty nice remake of a very old classic. The great bassline makes this one a good dancefloor destroyer. Markus and Ferry also managed to keep some of the oldschool vibe in the melody which follows, so that's another plus. However, we just can't have a Markus production without a pitch-bend right? After the first melodic part is over, a totally useless pitch-bend part kicks in and partly ruins the track.

Score: 7/10


Nothing Without Me (featuring Ana Diaz)

I haven't heard of Ana Diaz before, but she seems like a good singer. The production in this track is a bit more dark-ish and Ana's voice fits in very nicely. I really like the whole atmosphere and it does sound like a vocal track I'd expect from Markus. At this point I thought "hey, maybe more vocal tracks will be like this and it will turn out ok"... boy, was I wrong.

Score: 7/10


Love Rain Down (featuring Seri)

After a semi-promising start, the album takes a complete U-turn at this point.

Oh. My. God. (not in a good way)

The moment her annoying vocal kicked in the track lost me immediately. What followed was even worse - totally generic and typical trouse "in your face" cheesy synths. This track sounds like it was made by freaking Avicii, not Markus.

Score: 0/10

Carry On (featuring Jaren)

Pretty good production ruined by annoying, wailing vocals by Jaren. The part where she sings "Carry ON" makes me cringe. A dub would probably be nice, but this sure as hell isn't

Score: 3/10


Deep in the Night (featuring Fiora)

More annoying cringeworthy vocals, which again ruin a potentially good production.

Score: 3/10


Caught (featuring Adina Butar)

I have no idea what Markus hears in Adina. Her voice sounds like something that would fit into music for a cartoon about fairies and rainbows. Just another über-cheesy, unicorn pop track.

Score: 2/10

Triotonic (with Elevation and KhoMha)

The bassline in the beginning and after the "main part" is really good. However, the track looses some of its appeal due to the very generic lead in the middle.

Score: 7/10

Soul Seeking

Finally something really good. This is the sound I would usually expect from a Markus Schulz artist album. I love the way it slowly builds up during the first 2 minutes or so. That's followed by an epic melody, which would destroy any gig. Best track on the album for me.

Score: 8.5/10

Sing Me Back to Life (featuring Aruna)

Not as bad as most of the previous vocal tracks, but very boring. Not much else to say.

Score: 4/10

Don't Leave Until the Sunrise

Starts of slowly with a farty (good farty in this case, not annoying farty) bassline, which is followed by a nice piano. At this point the track has a nice summery vibe. It does manage to keep the vibe, but I think it's slightly ruined by the main synth, which isn't that good.

Score: 7/10

Until it's Gone (featuring Trevor Guthrie)

Ugh, awful male vocals on top of a very simple and uninspiring production. This sounds like a sh*tty Dash Berlin tune, enough said.

Score: 1/10

Universe is Mine (featuring Adina Butar)

Started of very promising for the first minute and a half. The production sounded deep and interesting.

Then...That.... STUPIDLY ANNOYING vocal kicked in. UGH, her singing makes my head hurt.

Score: 1/10

Tempted (featuring Sarah Howells)

Similar case to Nothing Without Me. I really dig the production and the vocals sound decent and very catchy. The lyrics are cheesy as hell, but that doesn't bother me in this case.

Score: 6.5/10

Absolution (featuring Mark Frisch)

Another uber cheesy pop tune with annoying, screamy male vocals. Horrible track in every way.

Score: 0/10


I Like It (featuring Khaz and E.L.I.)

Aaaand another "Top 40 pop chart" track. Yuck.

Score: 0/10

Digital Madness

I'm totally bored of this track already, but this extended mix is very nicely tweaked and makes it interesting. It starts of with that great outro mix, which Markus played at Transmission last year and slowly builds up to the original part. Nice job here.

Score: 7/10

Scream (featuring Ken Spector)

A dub could potentially be decent. The vocals ruin the whole track again.

Score: 2/10

Finish Line (with Elevation)

I'm usually not a fan of pitchbend-based buildups, but I love this one. Makes me chair rave everytime. The melody and main lead are basically Rotunda 2.0, but they still sound fresh enough to be interesting. I admit I was hoping Markus' collab with Elevation would be a deeper track, but I'm not disappointed, cause this a great club destroyer.

Score: 8.5/10

Go! (with Dennis Sheperd)

Another oldie here, but I still love it. The track is very repetitive, but for some reason that's the main charm. Takes a long time to build up, but this just adds tension in a positive way. The climax that follows is just epic.

Score: 8.5/10

Karbon (with Arnej)

There seems to be a lot of hate for this track, but I can't quite understand why. Overall it sounds pretty good to me. I like the dark and dirty atmosphere.

Score: 7/10

Push the Button (with Mr. Pit)

Generic, boring bigroom tune.

Score: 4/10

Silence to the Call (with Wellenrausch)

I had very high hopes for this collab, which turned out to be very disappointing. Wellenrausch are usually very good when it comes to vocal tracks, but even they failed this time. The vocals sound a bit annoying and the production is meh aswell.

Score: 4/10


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Closing Thoughts

My hopes for this album were basically non-existant, so I'm not disappointed at all after hearing the result. It turned out to be what I expected after seeing the tracklist - a very bad album, filled with cheesy crowd pleasing pop tracks with awful vocals. Some of them are so bad I just can't fully grasp they were actually produced by Markus. As you can see I liked some tracks, but that's heavily outweighed by the absolutely horrendous ones. The album also has no sense of progression and therefore feels totally random. Definitely by far his worst album effort so far and not worth getting at all as far as I'm concerned.

Overall Score: 3/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Solarstone - Pure

I've always been a fan of Solarstone productions. In the past he (or they in the distant past) managed to produce some of the most beautiful melodies ever. After the album Touchstone in 2010 Rich slipped of my radar for a while, but he's definitely back on it since late 2011. He started 2012 with a new vocal track - The Spell, featuring a for me unknown vocalist Clare Stagg. The Spell became an instant big hit and is, in my opinion, one of the better vocal tracks of 2012 so far. Rich also announced that this would be the first single from his upcoming album. 

After The Spell was released there was no real news about the album till late April. That's when Pure was officialy revealed and it was supposed to showcase what Rich consideres "Pure Trance". After seeing the tracklist for the first time I was very skeptical, because there were too many vocal tracks for my taste. In the end I decided to give it a shot anyway, so here's my review:


Pure

Great opener, which basically shows how most of the album will be - dreamy & melodic. The track starts off with a lovely piano intro and continues with a dreamy melody. The breakdown is stunning aswell. One of my favourite tracks from the album.

Score: 8.5/10

Jewel (with Clare Stagg)

Clare sounds really nice here. The production itself is nothing outstanding, but it manages to complement her vocals nicely. Overall it's a decent more chillout oriented vocal track. 

Score: 6/10

Shake The Demons (with Bill McGruddy)

Very interesting track here. Progressive with a dark, misterious vibe and good haunting vocal by Bill. The vocal is kept to a minimum, which is great. This way it fits in amazingly and adds a lot to the atmosphere, without being overdone or taking over the track.

Score: 8/10

Voyager

After a few slower tracks, we continue with a faster one. The overall structure of Voyager actually feels like a journey through space. The track uses the typical Solarstone bassline, which we've been used to lately and adds a cool spacey melody on top. The spoken male vocal samples are a nice addition, but the screamy female vocal samples in the end seem pretty useless.

Score: 8.5/10

Where Do We Go From Here (with Betsie Larkin)

It takes a lot for a vocal track to really impress me, but this one succeeded. Yes it's pretty cheesy, but it's a great chillout track. I'm not a fan of Betsie at all, but both she and Rich sound great.

Score: 8/10

Fire Island (with Aly & Fila)


Big surprise here. I'm not a fan of Aly & Fila and their generic uplifting sound, so I wasn't expecting too much after seeing them in this collaboration. However, they managed to blow me away. This might be due to the fact that I really can't hear what Aly & Fila added here. Sounds like pure Solarstone to me. Amazing dreamy melody, lovely guitar parts and overall a very summery vibe.

Score: 9/10

Requiem (with Clare Stagg)

Catchy melody and again good vocals by Clare. Nice one.

Score: 7/10

Falcons (with Giuseppe Ottaviani)

Similar story to Fire Island with this one, because I haven't been a fan of Giuseppe's productions in the past few years. This track is nice, but I got kinda tired of the melody pretty quickly. Unlike the collaboration with Aly & Fila, this time I can clearly hear Giuseppe's contribution mostly in the form of his typical plucks.

Score: 7/10

Please

Starts off slowly with some cool spoken vocal samples when suddenly that beautiful melody kicks in. Wow! Definitely one of the most beautiful melodies I've heard in a long time. So sad, yet so uplifting. That combined with a very oldschool-ish beat = Win. Best track on the album for me!

Score: 9.5/10

The Spell (with Clare Stagg)

Overplayed as hell already before the album was released. However I don't mind, because it's really good. Driving, melodic with nice vocals on top. This is a nice example of good vocal trance.

Score: 8/10

Lovers

This is the only weak track on the album. It's way too cheesy and doesn't do anything for me.

Score: 4/10

Presence Of The Past

With this one, we enter the chillout zone. The track consists of a mixture of sounds (the guitar is outstanding), which create a nice chill journey. 

Score: 7/10

Swansong (with Hannah Magenta)

Good tune to end the album with. Nice chillout vibes, which are nicely complemented by great vocals from Hannah.

Score: 7.5/10

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Closing Thoughts

I normally wouldn't be able to enjoy an album with half vocal tracks, but this one was definitely an exception. I'm glad that most of them were more chillout oriented and not the regular pop-trance crap. The other half of the album consists of some great instrumental tracks, which are definitely the highlight. The overall vibe is very dreamy/trancey and it's a very diverse album which will probably suit a lot of different tastes.

Overall Score: 8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: Timewave - War

I discovered Timewave in the second half of 2011 and fell in love with his sound instantly. With every new track/remix I listened to, he kept earning more of my respect and I already considered him one of my favourite producers after a really short period of time.

A few months ago I found out he will be releasing a new album in the near future. Needless to say I was really hyped. I loved his debut album - Solar System, so I had huge expectations for this one aswell. Now that the album has been released and I've listened to it numerous time, I'm ready to share my thoughts. So does the album deliver? Here's my review:

Out Of Nowhere

The album kicks off with an awesome breaks track. It starts off with some cool whispering vocal samples and pads, which set the prefect starting mood. After the beats kick in and the melody starts playing, the track manages to build up an amazing goosebumps-giving atmosphere, which fits the title perfectly: War has started and it came out of nowhere.

Score: 9/10

Chaos

This track is only 128BPM, yet it has so much energy. That's one of the things Timewave's so good at and he shows it again. In addition to that there's the typical Timewave bassline and a great spacey melody on top. Overall he again manages to portrait the title perfectly.

Score: 8/10

Desperation

A little bit more of a melancholic mood in this one. The track slowly builds up to a haunting breakdown, which is complemented with some acidic effects and whispering vocal samples.

Score: 7/10

Against The Wall

This track shows the more uplifting side of Timewave, which I really love. The beat feels rougher compared to the first 3 tracks, the melody is more euphoric and overall it manages to give a very uplifting vibe. The atmosphere is again enhanced by some spacey effects and subtle vocal samples.

Score: 8.5/10

Respite

Here he slows things down with a more chillout oriented breaks track. Nothing extraordinary, but very pleasant to listen to.

Score: 7/10

Signs Of Hope

Another breaks track, but with this one he steps it up a notch again. The track starts off a bit slow and on the melancholic side, but steps up after the breakdown and makes the second half much more epic. Proper journey from start to end.

Score: 8/10

Pushing Back

The bassline is very "heavy" and deep and the melody feels slow at first, which makes the track overall seem a bit slower and monotone. But this is all party of the journey. When the breakdown hits, the track already evokes a sense of euphoria and manages to keep this vibe till the end.

Score: 8/10

Through The Fire

Awesome dynamic track here. Starts of with some great pads and builds up a nice atmosphere. After that a very catchy beat and melody kick in, which are later interrupted by a few nicely placed breakbeat parts. In the end the track turns more uplifting.

Score: 8.5/10

Salvation

This track again shows the more uplifting side of this album. It takes a long time to build up, but it has a great drive from start to end.

Score: 8/10

New Begining

Nice way to end this journey: a very pleasant chillout track.

Score: 7/10

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Closing Thoughts

This album is, in my opinion, progressive trance at a very high level of quality, but I didn't expect anything less from Timewave. With War he manages to (again) firmly establish himself as one of my favourite producers. As you can see by the track titles, the album is constructed to tell a story and it achieves that perfectly. A real journey from start to end. I would recommend War to basically any EDM fan.

Overall Score: 8/10