After reviewing their newer Tartara compilation, this Helicon Sound System compilation made its way to me as well. Just as the former mentioned compilation, this one is all about dark psytrance, but one glance at the track list and that should’ve been obvious to most people, especially to the ones who like this style. Ghreg on Earth, Silent Horror, N.O.M., all are pretty well known. What is this compilation all about? Dark style, and when I mean dark, I do mean dark, with the emphasis here placed on dark pad sounds, samples from horror movies and a general dark atmosphere. Formenth’s Demonic Virus opens the journey and sets the tone immediately with a slamming bass line and a hopeless atmosphere. Ghreg on Earth lets you feel like you’re trapped on the Nostromo with nobody that can hear you scream and the rest of this compilation feels like a kind of stranglehold. And it never lets go until it’s done. As I said, the emphasis here is on dark, even more so than it is on Tartara. It must be said that Secret Society’s Funky Town (T4), the longest one on here, does break that mood slightly with its weirdness and the sampling of the track Funky Town by Lipps Inc. (back in the early 80s). The Bad Trip by Sator Arepo (T5) is really fast on bpm, 165 of them, breaking the darker atmosphere a little as well. But after those two the compilation returns to its normal darkness, ending on a funkier note with Black Cat from Full Face. |