V/A - Lhiannon Sidhe - M.OE recs

[Nefarious]

I guess this is more a recommendation than a review Many familiar faces in this one, although a new label, run by the ladies at Mistress of Evil. We get killer trax the whole way through. Chain rattling, gory samples, catchy as fuk tunes and a dose of humour at times also. see - (Fractal Cowboys - Mega Jesus of Evil) Well, i thought it was funny. Bizzare fast paced tune that one, but i like it.

 

The Nommo's appear and bring a tune that stonks along nicely. I Absofukinlutely loved the Xenomorph trak. Mark your a nutter!! The Ghreg on Earth trak is very nice as well, lots of changes and as bangin' as they come.

 

Mastered by the supreme cave dwelling demon Xenomorph, in the hive.

 

Haunting, menacing night time madness. Go dance in the nocturnal forest.

[Lemmiwinks]

 

1. WELCOME TO M.O.E - Intro

2. MUSSY MOODY - Evil Forces

3. MUBALI - M.o.e

4. XENOMORPH - Maladjusted Noise Experiments

5. PARA HALU - In Nomine

6. FRACTAL COWBOYS - Mega Jesus of evil

7. GHREG ON EARTH - Chapel Perilous

8. AMANDA - Identity Crisis

9. THE NOMMOS - Impulses

10. PENTA - Too Cold

 

 

So latley I realized that it's been a while since I haven't bought any dark trance comps. And since this one got great reviews (for example, the Xenomorph and the Fractal Cowboys tracks are featured in Goa Gil's top 10) I decided to try this one for size.

First off, the name - Lhiannon Sidhe... that must be like the coolest name for a comp ever!! After some digging around the net I found out that the Lhiannon Sidhe (BTW Sidhe is pronounced "Shee" if you want to impress your friends ) were some sort of vampiric elves who supposedly populated parts in ancient Ireland. A little note I found on this forum: "they actually functioned much like muses. they were attracted to artists, poets, musicians, etc...and their great beauty generally tended to make those men fall deeply in love with them. while the two were togeather, the man would create his greatest works, amazing masterpieces...but because while he was with the lhiannon sidhe he lived life *so* fully and completely, he would die young, a husk of his former self. the lhiannon sidhe does not *drain* her "victim", so much as cause him to wear himself out."

OK, that got me horny

 

Anyways, enough with the name and let's get on to how this sounds... well people talk a lot about full-on being formulaic but for me all this "dark trance" is just as formulaic as full-on: you take an ultra-fast bassline that sounds like a continuous drone, add some twisted wierd sounds throughout the track and give it a generally dark feeling + maybe a little melody starting around min. 5 or 6... For me this music hasn't changed much since Parvati's First Step which was released way back in 2001... So generally speaking this stuff is good for night sets at parties but doesn't have much value at home (well at least IMO...).

 

 

So then, after a little Intro, the madness slowly starts. Evil Forces starts out with a less fast pace, and wierd noises that seem to build up towards the end, but the result remains rather calm. There's even something that sounds like a violin melody in the end. I don't really like this track, but then again it's purpouse is to gradually build up to the other faster tracks and it does that pretty well

 

Mubali's tracks brings us to the "typical dark trance BPMs". The bassline is VERY deep, even TOO deep cause I felt compelled to turn down the volume of my subwofer when listening to it cause it tended to give me a headache. The last part of the track reminds me of some older Parasense . It's my first encounter with this artist and I like his style. Wonder how other stuff by him sounds like

 

Then on to full power with Xenomorph's track: oh man that's the stuff!After a tiny intro (exactly 21 seconds) a REALLY fast low-key repetitive synthline hits you and it stays with you during the whole track. On top you have rather slow airy synth progressions and a general feeling of unease. Then around 1:50 a nice dark melody kicks in, it kindof remined me of some MFG in some sorts... This is my fave track on this comp

 

Para Halu (what a wierd artist name?) comes next with more "formulaic" dark trance... until 6:45 when you can hear some opera ?!? then it brakes up and continues with some dark melody. Too bad one has to wait for 6 minutes to FINALLY get to the interesting part

 

Mega Jesus of Evil might be one of Goa Gils' fave tracks at the moment but personally I find it has nothing more compared to the "usual" russian trance that has been hitting us since 2000... come on people, it's time for a change here, it's been like 4 freaking years already!

 

Greg on Earth serves us with a more dynamic style: there are a lot of twisted sinth lines and the bassline changes constantly thoughout the track. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that triggers dark thoughts when tripping at a psy party And the buildup at the end of minute 6... ohhhh maaaan that's the shit!! This is my second fave track here!!

 

Amanda comes with a track that's again too formulaic for my tastes...

 

Then come The Nommos (Goa Gil's project) with a new track. It's much darker than the stuff on their Digitaria album... and also less distinct in sound... in other words, we're back into formula territory...

 

Penta is one of my all-favorite dark trance artists (man, the dark trip I was while listening to him live last summer at a festival lol ). However the track here is less impressive compared to his older stuff IMO. That said it must have one of the wierdest breaks around 4:00 with something that sounds like some sort of bird (a seagull?) to my ears, some voices in an undistinguishable language (at first it sounds like russian, then german, then an english voice "Where are you, stupid sun?" and this REALLY wierd melody... Interesting track but it falls a little short...

 

[EDIT: I got a message from Penta himself saying that this is actually one of his OLDER tracks so stay tuned for his new stuff ]

 

Finally, a little comment on the track names: "Evil Forces", "Chapel Perilous" and the cherry on the cake, "Mega Jesus of Evil"... isn't this getting a little ridiculous? Yes, we know it's supposed to be dark trance, now don't rub it in. Kindof reminds me those Thunderdome compilations were there was basically a competition to find the darkest possible name "The Revenge of the Mummy", "The Killing Playground", "Death Becomes You"... in the end it's kindof silly if you ask me...

 

Conclusion well I guess that if you like dark psy then you can't go wrong with this one... personally I find that the style hasn't changed much since the stuff released by Parvati in 2001 and is getting a bit too formulaic for my tastes... Maybe try something else than some wierd synth lines thrown on top of a continuous bassline drone for a change? That doesn't mean ALL the tracks here are uncreative, Xenomorph and Greg on Earth really stand out on this one : ) 7/10 from me

[NT]

Very nice release here, compiled by the 3 ladys from M.O.S. who are into dark trance alot. Great track by Para Halu on this one, really gives me the shivers and it's pitch black / dark. (that moment after the little opera sample really IS dark and a little bit scary, the 'melody' then is hrm.. just reminds me of a pitch black apocalyptic world hehe) i DO enjoy the 2nd song because it contains a very nice dark sounding synth riff + the sounds are pretty insane at times, and i don't mind psy stuff being less fast paced. Mubali's track on this one is more dancefloor stuff, not really dark... average track, Xenomorph's is once again amazing and you can recognise instantly it's him, the lead synth is a bit cheesy though but the way the melody of the lead synth is is awesome, so i don't mind it to be a 'commercial trance type synth' , Fractal Cowboys track is weirdness all the way (it could be compared to some of the funny/weird tunes on the "Schizm" compilation) , Crazy! Ghreg on earth's tune is a little bit 'flat' but has some nice crazy effects and some excellent dark soundscapes in the background. Amanda's track i don't like, it makes use of the "amen" breakbeat, which is so old and we have heard it thousands of times before, + there are some really annoying sounds in this song, and nothing really special happens, more dancefloor oriented stuff i guess. The Nommos, pretty standard track 'average' darkness but excellent crazy sounds, but lacks atmosphere imo. And last Penta's song, one of the worst penta songs i know of.. haven't got much to say about this one. ..

 

Overall a good compilation but i expected it to be a bit darker then it is, it is one of my favourite compilations from this year though, (just for the great Para Halu and Xenomorph songs ) if you like this compilation be sure to check out "There is no tomorrow" and maybe combine the best (or darkest / evilest songs) tracks of both compils into one trip to hell

[Manuser]

It sounds like those tracks are dark in order to be dark! A kind of "who will make the darkest track?" ...some tracks remind me hardcore music, this music for rebel people, noise, rebel basslines which are said to be cool...actually, i don't see the meaning of this music, i don't see how i could like it, and, it's my opinion, i guess you have to have some psychological problems to like this compilation. Sorry, not my cup of tea, i can like dark psy, but not dark psy which is only made to be as dark as possible.

[mike.54]

My favorite track here is Chapel Perilous. Really special atmosphere in it!