freak51

This disc is just awful, and full of boring, repetitive, annoying sounds except the tracks that are on several other discs anyway. Blecch: 1/10.

Tracks 1, 3 and 5 are excellent - note that #3 is on several other comps though. Worth picking up, even though the Gaia track is awful.

1,2,3: nice. 4,5,6: waste of plastic. 7,8,9: nice again. My favourites are Shadows And Flashes and Sun God. 8/10.

What, are we calling this Goa now? Can I put it in my top 5 albums yet? If you don't have it, you need it.

Excellent work. Strips away all that is superfluous and lays bare the core of trance. Mostly dark without being cinematic. A little slow, but plays just fine at +8% and mixes into pretty much any other German stuff or Spiral Active Project.

Although I'm not too keen on the more Goa-ish side anymore, I actually still do enjoy the MWNN track: it has a nice rolling mainly-black-keys synth line and a pleasant tight kick-drum. Most of others are very good work too. Get this comp if you're looking for a 1997 exhibit in the psy-trance museum, but I wouldn't play much of this stuff today.

Oh what a surprise. Future Prophecy remixed an X-Dream song. Guys, don't be afraid to write your own material; you do have some talent. But that's just being catty; I'll probably go buy this record anyway to get the Trip Tonite Remix.

Killers, both sides. Around the same time as Windchime, another standout track from Darshan. Tasty.

If you adore Twisted Records' Eclipse and/or Shpongle's Are You Shpongled, and don't mind getting 2 of those tracks again, this one's worth picking up. A keeper.

I hated this a lot. Even the cover art is boring. I much preferred Fusion, although much of that too now sounds dated and/or like video game music.

Pretty, but clubby. For the naive. "God is the mountain"? Chakra has done better than this, five years ago.

Expect to get out of the Doof track what you put into it. There are some very, very intelligent devices. Every iteration changes a tiny fraction, so it creeps. The guitar [i.e., the main line] is a bit harsh-sounding today though. I'd like to see an overhaul with some different sounds, more muted. Keep in mind that the record is actually from 1997 (TC6, KICKCD51), so it's no surprise that most of it shows its age. Destination is an excellent segue from hardcore into psy-trance, or the other way around. And the consistent, hard kick-drum that stays in for minutes at a time is very easy to match, so this can be a first track following someone else's slightly different style.

I listened to this one again on the 401 from Kingston to Toronto - i.e., pretty much no other stimulus. and I must admit that once we get away from the freaking violins, I do enjoy this one. It still seems about 10 BPM too slow though. The production is excellent.

Freekstyle is the name of the musical style characterized by broken-beat psychedelic trance. As such, this comp is well-named.

Ghost Brigade has to be among the finest tracks I've ever heard. Worth it for this killer alone. The last minute of this track ... ill.

If buying this, be aware that it is basically the same track over and over again. Nice track to repeat though.

I'd like to revise my opinion. This one has grown on me. The more you play it, the better it keeps giving and giving. Especially when you lay it next to pretty close to any other attempts at the Dark Side of Trance (Cydonia, Tim Schuldt, some Israelis). I'm glad I kept it after all, looks like skanov had it right all along.

good call, Gustav - me too

This is the best thing 3D Vision has ever released, anyway. If psy-techno keeps going in this direction I could get interested again.

This is breaking down under heavy listening. Stock declining, but still at least 6.5/10.

I loved La Chevauchee Fantastique, but disliked the rest. Another record as good as that track would be welcome.

Ehh. Maybe I have to listen to it a dozen times or something: The Delta, Infected Mushroom and Cydonia already 'do' Orchestral Manoevres in their Dark (tee hee - showing my age) and I don't think this is so deep we need another sub-sub-genre. Cut it out a'ready. Even the tracks in the middle need ... something? ... but for a couple. 10/10 for effort, 6/10 for achievement so far. It might grow on me.

The Bamboo Forest and Bus tracks are excellent. The rest did nothing special for me. 6/10.

Ehh. The tunes aren't as groovy as the cover art. "Tranceformations" is a timeless twisted classic; "Dealing With Demons" is pleasant but not A-list; the rest I found disposable.

WAAAAAAAAA! Heavy, heavy dark and scary X-Dream/The Delta influences. This is the good stuff! Requires massive speaker technology because you will WANT TO PLAY IT LOUD! The last half of the record loses track a bit, but the first half is pure sensory overload.