Astral Projection - Amen

[Nuxx]

The kings are not dead!For those who praised their comeback or for those who

claimed their grave as the very top Deep Goa band of all time.I consider

myself on the first group,simply because the influences generated in the Goa

Trance community by AP was,is & will be huge (myself included)."Amen" is a

bless and a curse...Considering AP carreer point of view.In my opinion lacks

some innovation except in "technodrome" wich i consider a lil too progressive

trance for my taste.. "Chaos" is the only blessing that "Amen" gave me and i

consider that one of the best tracks AP has made ever!(dubious opinion)

followed in close by "nexus"...All in all the concept behing the album is good

and very homogenic, and when i buy an album i get really happy if has one or

two tracks i specially like....this is the case.Not the best of the year but

it's on my top shelf!

7/10

http://www.mp3.com/nuxx

[Guest MG]

I can't hack every track, but I got it nonetheless. The last track, Chaos and

1mill years are really good, but due to the cheesy gatecrasher moments

insidiously synomynous with AP, you can only listen to this when you are in

the mood for it, it doesn't command your attention due to technical

brilliance, peculiarity, etc.

[Lemmiwinks]

AP still doing their thang in 02? Well, I don't really agree with what most

people said here... you see, I'd be more than happy to listen to classical AP

stuff and even now I'd sometimes put on Dancing Galaxy and think how fucking

great EACH track is... but... this is sadly NOT the case here... at first I

liked Amen, Nexus and 1.000.000 years from today. The rest (except Technodrome

which is different to anything AP has done before, but I personally don't like

very much) sound much more like commercial trance (and i mean COMMERCIAL

trance, NOT what we call commercial goa that usually is associated with the AP

name). If I must pick a former AP track that sounds more or less in the same

genre it would be the track Burning Up made with Trilithon... BUT that was

clearly APs attempt to make eurotrance whereas this is supposed to be 100%

goa!! So this album got a thumb down from me after a few listens. Now I became

bored fast with Amen and 1.000.000 years and only find Nexus a great track.

And it truly is an excellent track, hypnotic all the way, AP style, albeit a

bit more linear and monotonic than what we've been used to hear from them in

the "golden age" 96. But a single great track doesn't make it a great album...

so I give this 6/10 and it would be a lot less if it weren't for Nexus...

sorry AP but you guys let me down... SMI²LE

[Guest Warnoggin]

if anyone says that this album is exactly the same as their other ones then

they dont know their ass from their elbow. i am a big A.P. fan and to be

honest i wasnt too impressed with this one, it's a bit too much on the

commercial dancy side for my taste and a couple of tracks are just plain

lighthearted trance bullshit. however technodrome and chaos are decent tracks

and 1,000,000 years from today is brilliant.the sound production on this album

is flawless with loads of layers but a lot of the times the tracks dont go

anywhere and are very repetitive.i wish A.P. would go back to the astral files

style music bringing their updated sound quality with them.

overall 5/10. BUT ONLY BECAUSE IT'S ASTRAL PROJECTION

[Tolik]

1000000 years form today - best track in album. And I think AP is still best in melodic psytrance that really could blow your mind on a dancefloor.

[Guest Cosmogenesis]

Globally, Amen is a good album although it can't reach the past Astral Projection's older magic stuff IMO (Trust in Trance 3, Dancing Galaxy,..). My favourite track is and remains "Nexus" because I think it the nearest of the older classical astral tunes, and brings me a lot of positive emotions.

But tracks like "Anything is Possible" or "Electric Blue" with some eurotrance influences deserve also a good consideration.

Amen is without hesitation far better than the TEN remixes release.

[Manuser]

One thing is surprising : when I listened to this album 4 years ago i was disappointed, no GREAT track anymore, ..after several years I listened to it a few hours ago, and I found it awesome!

 

Amen is varied, from the sweet "Chaos" to the dark "Techno drome"... Each track has its personality, and the whole album HAS personality.

Indeed "Nexus" is an accomplished track, only the first track is pretty useless, the rest is pretty stunning.

 

That means a lot.

[Deepdrone]

Its blunt and totally unsatisfactory. I kept some time Nexus and Techno Drome because of the titles, afterwards this could not last any more and went as garbage.

[Tolik]

Anyway OLD SCHOOL music rules forever !!! Don't listen this album too frequently and you would amazingly found that it doesn't become out of date. Sounds fresh and interesting. Ofcause not all tracks but most of them.

 

I'm really feel sorry that I started to go to Goa parties too late in the time when minimalizm started to grab all Goa music. I'd like to be there in 1995-1999 indeed.

[SkeletonMan]

Mustn't it be hard to be Astral Projection these days? No matter what you do, hardcore fans of midnineties Goa will blame you for selling out or plainly just loosing it. And here you come with another mainstream crowd pleaser! What the hell is wrong with that?

 

Nothing. Parts of Amen may not live up to foredom's glory, but that is forgiveable. The good parts are as strong now as they were 10 years ago. The problem is that most of the time Astral sounds like something kept in a timecapsule from 10 years ago. Track 8 Anything is possible is the best example. This would have rocked the 90's scene, but today sounds like nothing but a vague echoe of People Can Fly. Which it is!

 

We don't mean to be bad, when we bash Astral. It's just hard to accept that the ears of mid 90's Goa we so faithfully followed can no longer follow us.

[chatnik aka alien]

Very,very nice album,beatiful synthesis between old school trance and new wave.It's great to hear a tb-303 in new production,it's most used in Techno drome.

[Ormion]

Good album but not what we expected by AP. I guess it sounds too clubby, without these epic melodies or the climaxes. Some of the tracks are much more minimal than the old AP sound and some other mediocre copies of their old style. Still it has nice moments, some tracks are great (Nexus, Chaos, 1000000 Years...) but not even close to the old stuff.

7.5/10

[Mindphilux]

I can see why people put this album down. As a whole its not as good as their past albums, but there is some really good music on here. The last 2 tracks stand out pretty well (Heaven's Gate and Electric Blue)... But I think the real prize here is Infinite Justice. This is a very magical track to me... that beat reminds me just why i like trance to begin with

[Jon Cocco]

ASTRAL PROJECTION - AMEN
2002
Updated in 2013 !!!!!!!!




Track listing:

01. AMEN
02. CHAOS
03. INFINITE JUSTICE
04. THE NEXUS
05. STICKS AND STONES
06. TECHNO DROME
07. 1.000.000 YEARS FROM TODAY
08. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
09. HEAVENS GATE
10. ELECTRIC BLUE


The first goatrance song I ever heard was KABALAH. Never before had I heard electronic music so complex, dynamic, layered, engaging, catchy and deep. I was in awe. Astral Projection started my awareness of other great artists including Miranda, Man with No Name, Transwave, Hallucinogen, and more. I then bought their albums: TRUST IN TRANCE, ASTRAL FILES (Remixes), DANCING GALAXY, and ANOTHER WORLD. By 1999 I had heard virtually everything AP had publically released to my knowledge.

As the years past (2000-2002) psytrance went through some changes. The record labels known for once distributing Goatrance released fewer Goa albums. Many labels went bankrupt. Psy/Goatrance seemed no longer distributed. Exploiting psytrance and bringing it closer to clubtrance (as if one wasn't danceable for clubs before) was the new approach. Pretty soon we barely had some of the finest ingredients that made psytrance as psychedelic and creative as before. Minimal Psy arrived. Years passed. During this time Astral (AP) released a mixed double album titled, "In the Mix." It had some decent club trance songs and remixes. I was unsure if this was the direction they would stick with and hoped for a follow-up to their goatrance music with all new tracks.

Suddenly, in 2002, after 2-3 years minimal psytrance and more or less generic full on, AP appeared like a beacon of light. Amen, the title literally. I was excited! The cover for the album wasn't beautiful like their Another World one. I ignored that observation and ordered Amen immediately.

Initially I was disappointed when hearing this back in 2002. Sure it had layers of melodies, highly danceable songs, and it sounded like AP to some degree. The music seemed less engaging, visual, and dreamlike in it's drowning sounds and melody formation though. The overall feel wasn't as memorable and arresting, only on few tracks (3, 4, 10). The melodies seemed less complex, almost too detatched from the swirling sounds that create a hynotic vibration of sorts which trances the listener in certain Goatrance albums. The actual music, the feeling within the songs wasn't special anymore. It wasn't magical sounding anymore.

Several years passed and I didn't touch the album. The next time I heard Amen was in 2004 and again in 2007. Amen is generally a combination of Full On club-trance (tracks 1, 2) and goatrance (4, 5, 7, 10). Sometimes they do a great job fusing both together (Track 3) while having a goatrance edge. For the first time in a long time they even tried something new (Track 6) with a dark song. They also have a throwback song that feels like a remake of better days (Track 8) and a softer one (Track 9), though it's not ambient goa. Lastly they end the album with (Track 10) goatrance.


TRACK REVIEW - I like and don't like:

1. Amen is repetitive and lackluster. Some streaming melodies that arrive at 2:02 disappear soon after leaving the song vulnerable before they return. The melodies sound formulaic as if pre-set to patterns, loops. The artists of AP are too creative for songs like these! C

2. Chaos is more catchy than the opening. There are some nice ambient notes and a melody here and there. This is the second club trance song on the album. It's decent, but risk-free and tame. For goatrance it falls short. B-

3. Infinite Justice sounds like an old AP track with added psy sounds around the beat. The melodies are nice. I feel like the song's going through the motions though. It's arguably lazy and unambitious coming from the guys who created such wonderful songs as Kabalah, Searching For UFO's, etc. B-

4. The Nexus is the first really unique, distinct in style and appeal, innovative numbers here to really grab my attention. I feel like I'm listening to something new from these guys. The synth work is catchy and methodical, enhanced by delectable, digital (machinery-esque) sounds. The song is aggressive and futuristic sounding. I like it. My only complaint is the last minute; it lacks creativity and seems to loop layers from the first two thirds without adding anything to compliment them. B+

5. Sticks and Stones has a good, short introduction. The song is more energetic and aggressive than the others. Sound/mixing work is solid throughout, and the melodies are rich and tasty. Great track! A-

6. Techno Drome is driving, almost gritty, industrial (not the genre), futuristic in a sense, and catchy! It's interesting to hear AP do a dark psytrance song. This track has character and sounds less complex and psychedelic after hearing the layers of twisting melodies in tracks 3-5. But those crunchy sounds are great! It's different and solid throughout! Well done! B+

7. 1.000.000 Years From Today is energetic. It has many good sounds, rhythm. Where are the delicious melodies though? Overall this is a solid umber lacking emotion. B

8. Anything Is Possible sounds older than new. I'm glad it's here though. The song's energy and message is wonderful, aware, and ever more meaningful today. Well done! B+

9. Heaven's Gate doesn't develop much as it progresses. That said, it has some pretty good, uplifting sounds and melodies. AP can do better. B

10. Electric Blue is an example of classic AP. It sounds as if around a dozen songs of melodies are playing and yet they all compliment the other and form one strong brand of thin layers until a stronger, more dreamy melody mixes in over them all. It's very positive and classic AP style sounding. B


AMEN is AP modernized. Production is sharper. The album sounds less organic than earlier ones. As I further explored the album I noticed that songs (1, 2, 6, 9) are not that layered, world capturing (in it's ability to trance the listener) or as deep as of earlier albums. Synth work comes and goes, occasionally developing enough to evolve the song. The melodies are catchy, often layered as we've come to enjoy. Certain songs are clearly intended to sound more mainstream or Full On (club trance) friendly (1, 2) while others seem made to both dance to and/or capture the mind (4, 5). There's less climaxes, rollor coaster mements and parts. AP didn't want to abandon their fans so they made some big trance gems. They also want to appeal to the more general, mainstream club scene obviously. But this is still more or less GOATRANCE. I'm HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

IN CONCLUSION, Amen has greatness on in some of the later tracks. There are several songs which ooz of nostalgia from the magical days of 1996-1999, albeit modernized. A new change is Techno drome, the darkest song I've heard by them yet. It's pretty good, nothing superb. While I favor AMEN the least of their four main albums from 1996 to 2002 (not including, "In the Mix"), I do enjoy this release though it starts repetitive! There are several great numbers! This wasn't my dream comeback album. I actually find it less magical and special sounding than earlier albums. I believe much of that's because you cannot recreate memories of the past. However without certain memories of AP's past, they'd likely create an album far less special or full of their spirit, style, and sound as they have here. AP would be empty or having to constantly reinvent their sound and style (Techno Drome) or sell out to having a more generic, basic sound as many people felt they did on 2000's double "IN THE MIX" clubtrance and remix album. Thankfully they haven't sold out here. You may NOT like it though. The tunes aren't as infectious; the harmonies not as emotive. That said, these artists still have it in them. They innovate and sometimes it works VERY WELL. This is the last SOLID album (to date) by some of the masters of Psychedelic Goa-Trance.


Highlights: 4, 5, 6, 7, 10

B

[rino]

SCORE: 8.9/10 = B+

Now, now, I would really have to diasgree (to a certain extent) with the above review, and especially the score! While I myself also find Astral Projection to be THE definition of goa trance (NOT my favorite artists), I somehow never thought of Amen as anything more than an attempt to try and recapture some of that old glory. As Jon Cocco so nicely pointed out, psy trance music, more than ever, went through some radical changes in that period of 2-3 years between the amazing Another World and Amen. So many new trance acts came to be, bringing their own sound and changing our view on trance music. While Astral Projection dominated the past decade with a firm grip, it was only just that they found themselves on shaky grounds with this album. And I could sense it after the 2000 In The Mix double CD release, where they tried to cash in on their enormous fan base by weakly remixing some of their classics, and thus making them (too) dance floor friendly, and offering a handful of new tracks. Which I found to be weak as well, apart I admit, "Virtual booster". Now, if you are Astral Projection, that is something you can get away with. And they did. After all, they are the duo who have the most sold goa/psy trance album... EVER!!! If my numbers are correct, their 1997 mega classic Dancing Galaxy was sold in 120,000 original copies. They had two videos back in the day getting played at prime time on MTV. A feat Paul Van Dyk strives to achieve today. Back then, their web site still wasn't up and running, there was barely any internet promotion, and even if there was, keep in mind that it wasn't what it is today. So, they truly are the kings. No doubt about that. Now, once you arrive to the throne, it's tough when you got to step down. I mean, the kings of hip hop Wu Tang Clan had trouble doing it at the end of the millenium. Pink Floyd had trouble doing it after their The Wall album. Depeche Mode certainly didn't like it after their Violator album blew everything else on the market out of the box. So it's more than just that Astral Projection do everything in their power to try and remind their fans why they are at the top in the first place.

And this is where Amen comes in. Now, by 2002, psy trance listeners were all over the place: some embraced the progressive sounds from the likes of, for example, Atmos and Vibrasphere. Others were keen to switch over to the whole dark psy movement, adoring the sounds of, let's say Parvati Records or the russian producers. A lot of people, once having seen the Growling Mad Scientists enter superstardom, went crazy after their (and their numerous sound alikes) full on sound. But maybe nobody drew more attention than Infected Mushroom with their Classical Mushroom album, and all the hype that followed it. I myself happily embraced

the pure madness of finnish trance and started to (and still do) enjoy listening to artists like Eraser vs. Yojalka, Texas Faggott or Squaremeat. Nothing wrong with that. But my point is that in 2002 not too many people cared about hearing the new Astral Projection album. They were happy there where they were. It's a fact that in 2002 Astral Projection were remembered for their incountable older classics, and the new album could hardly live up to the amazing legacy. And it didn't. I guess I could draw a parallel between Amen and another old school legend's come back album, Man With No Name's Interstate Highway. I guess that in the same way that the psy trance community had moved away from him during his long years of absense, the same had happened with Astral Projection. When listening to this album, I cannot but think that these two geniuses had ran out of tricks. And I wasn't surprised. And I didn't expect another Trust In Trance or Dancing Galaxy, for that matter. So, keeping that in mind I listened to this CD without any great expectations (even though that is hard with any Astral Projection release).

THE ALBUM: I'm not going to go and do a track by track analysis because... well, I just don't feel like doing it. Plus I feel that "Nexus" (which is probably the only track that successfully brings the Astral Projection sound to some new, cool levels), "1,000,000 years from today" (which despite sounding like it was recorded in 1998 really blows me away) and the beautiful ending track "Electric Blue" (it will be pretty self explanatory why is this track beautiful once you hear it) are the three strongest tracks. And the only strong tracks on the LP. While many other users praised "Techno drome" for its high originality and the Astral Projection's will to explore the darker and harder realms of psy trance, I would rather not comment it because I'll guess I'd be too biased. See, I seriously don't like the whole dark psy, or even tech trance thing if you wanna call it that, so having a track like this by these guys gives me acute migranes. But on the rest of the album, there is nothing to hear. I can't even be merciful enough to state that there are glimpses of old glory here. Apart the sample on "Amen" which is identical to an ancient Astral Projection classic. And the rest of the tracks? They sound like feeble attempts to keep up with the changes and innovations that these guys themselves made possible. I do not know how to put it in better words. Rehashed beats, instantly forgettable melodies, and pathetic samples. Oh yeah, I would seriously have prefered Astral Projection releasing a front-to-back club trance album then trying to incorporate its elements to their core goa trance style. Who are you guys fooling? There are seriously parts of this album that Johan Gielen would play during his DJ set on Trance Energy. Sorry boys, but no matter what you mean to me, no matter how much I seriously adore your music, no matter how huge your contribution to the whole goa/psy trance genre is, we seriously didn't need this. Amen.

 

5/10

[rino]

1. I don't care for their opening, more clubby self-titled song, AMEN. I also find track 2, CHAOS lacks imagination, depth. It becomes more predictable and repetitive as it progresses with exception to a short, without-beat transition around the middle. It continues without breaking out and rising above. These first two songs however are pretty good melodic club trance songs. That's why I scored them as being good, not great, superb, etc. For goatrance and what I expect of AP however, I find them more or less lacking, boring.

 

2.Track 3 is great! I definitely feel is the first kickass song on the album. It's also one of my top favorites here. I love the layered build up and melodies. The selection and use of them combined with other sounds create far more energy and appeal to my ears as opposed to the more clubby, less climactic and involved songs before it.

 

3.I generally understand why AMEN sounds different. Their sound is more modern some say, but what does that mean? Production and sounds seem sharper. The album feels and sounds less organic than earlier albums. This isn't a plus to me. As I further explored the album I noticed something very obvious. The songs here (tracks 1, 2, 6, 9) are not epic, all that layered, world capturing (in it's ability to trance the listener) or as deep as the amount of energy put into such amazing work on earlier albums. Groups of melodies come and go and quite often a handful remain. Rarely do they evolve and greatly develop or build up to something huge or that much deeper as the track progresses from the half-way point. The melodies are catchy, sometimes beautiful, often layered as we've come to enjoy and expect. Certain songs are clearly intended to sound more mainstream or Full On (club trance) while others seem made to both dance to and/or capture the mind. Also, there's less climaxes, less rollor coaster mements and parts. This would make the album more predictable if it wasn't for the variety in songs. This album prevents me from going into a deep trance because it's mixed with songs less intended to keep me a trance. I believe this is because AP didn't want to abandon their fans. It seems they wanted to appeal towards the mainstream and clubs on a wider range than before too. Some may disagree but I find AMEN close to being put somewhere in between Another World and In the Mix. It simply has no lyrics save from the short voice samples.

 

4.IN CONCLUSION, Astral Projection is still awesome with melodies. This is proven and favored on several tracks over others. AP has kept a pretty good amount of the goa style and element in tact. Several songs take advantage of this while others don't. There are also several songs which ooz of nostalgia from the magical days of 1996-1999. A new change is TECHNO DROME, the darkest song I've heard by them to date which is interesting. AMEN is more for dancing and clubs than any main (non remixes) album by them to date. Their other albums were greatly aimed at dancing but I find AMEN less trance inducing as a whole. It actually rivals most of todays, last years, and years before that (since their 1999 Another World album) psytrance. This wasn't my dream comeback album. I actually find it less magical and special sounding than earlier albums. I believe much of that's because you can't recreate memories of the past.

1. It is because of tracks like these two that Jon listed above, that I can really have a harsh attitude towards this album. Now, while I do not listen to it, generally I don't have a negative opinion about people who are into club trance, nor do I mind the producers who make it and DJs who spin it. And, no, I don't think that it inferior to goa/psy trance. I tend to look at it as another branch of one huge tree. BUT, when you have Astral Projection doing club trance inspired tracks, you ought to know something ain't right. Why? No deep answers here. Simple: because you don't expect the godfathers of goa trance to do club trance. Now, while I would agree that the above mentioned tracks are objectively nice sounding, club freindly trance tracks, I just feel that they are weak Astral Projection tracks. And the thing to keep in mind here is that we are not reviewing a compilation of dance floor hits, but an Astral Projection album. And while if you close your eyes, I bet you could imagine yourselves dancing to 'em at some party, but when you have the CD, and the "Astral Projection" name tag stamped on it, I find it difficult to enjoy these tracks, and consider tham anything more but blatant attempts to get them dollars. Which isn't a bad thing after all. It's nice getting payed. But being Astral Projection, you don't have to appeal to Armin van Buuren fans to stack your chips.

 

2. Now, while "Infinite justice" does not do much justice to my ears, I must say that on a good day it sounds just fine. Its beauty (if you find any in it) lays in its potential to appeal to both th psy trance crwod and the average clubber. It does have some really uplifting melodies which would make you go touch any celing, but on the other side it has the psy elements (of course they don't even come close to the ol' ones) which could satisfy a less demanding goa trance listener. I guess I could comapre this track to Man With No Name's "Parallel universe", for I feel that track very nicely lands in between the club friendly area and the psy genre.

 

3. Jon Cocco, I'm with you on this one, only, it seems to me that I'm with you on a much larger scale due to the different scores we posted for this album. But having seen and read your voting scale, now I (kind of) understand the high rating . Now, while I never had any trouble with artists going in a more commercial, easy listening and club friendly zone, I have a serious problem with artists doing it in a fashion to pretend that they are not doing it. Come on, Astral Projection!!! I mean, how stupid do you think we as listeners are to not see what is going on here? I mean, this is definitely their most easy digestible and accesible album, but it was just spice enough with older goa trance elements to have us go like: "Well, the boys have made it again! Another goa trance gem from these dudes"! No. For as much as I would have liked that to be my reaction, I simply cannot do that. Or deliver what we all know you are capable of delivering, or just let us be and go search for a new audience. As I (I think) stated in my real review, there are no objectively horrible tracks here, but there are some seriously bad Astral Projection tracks here. It has been almost 11 years since "Kabalah" and "People can fly". Has anybody forgotten those melodies? I've listened to this CD for the last time about 4 days ago. Know how many melodies do I remember? One. The one on this album's seriously amazing closing track- "Electric blue".

 

4. I guess we could write novels about how awesome with melodies were Astral Projection in 2002. They were awesome in comparison to a vast majority of other psy trance being released those days, I'll give 'em that. But keep in mind that back in 2002 melodic climaxes and mind bending melodies were not the most popular of things. So I guess I give Astral Projection credit for having the courage to show us it's not all over yet. And I remember being almost convinced it was having seen that nobody was willing to release Chi A.D.'s super melodic Earth Crossing. So Astral Projection brought us something we haven't heard for a while. And while listening to Amen on its own may even seem OK, I already stated above that knowing this is Astral Projection, it just hearts. Thrown in the psy trance context, it seemed rather unusual to release an album like this back in 2002. But again, this is Astral Projection, and if anybody can ever get away with that, it's them. Now, the tracks that try to follow the old goa style are OK, if not very good, but the problem is they can only try to recapture some of that old magic. But they don't succeed. And what's even worse than not succeeding to recapture the old glory, is trying to fuse it with instantly forgettable, empty headed, radio friendly synths and sounds, which plague Amen. You can argue that Amen was "strictly for the dancefloors", but if that is true, then what on earth can you say about their past albums?!? I mean, viertually ANY track from any of their first four albums (except the ambient tracks of course) would tear the hinges off any god damn door, any day of the week, each and every month of the year. No matter what the weather is like. This can only come across as being more easy listening and less rewarding psy trance. With a major accent on less rewarding. I never looked at this as a come back album, but more of a fifth Astral Projection album. And by now you got it: no, I do not like it. Few (listed in my original review) exceptions are to be made naturally. Now, back to Jon's statement about his album rivaling many releases of the era. Look, if you compare it to the dull sounds of the then popular full on, or the "simple" sounds of progressive trance, or the completely melody-lacking dark psy. But Amen had virtually no competition in sound back in the day, so I guess that hearing an album as melodic as this back then was... WOW! Which naturally does not immediately make it good. Upon further and more profound listening, I concluded that even though I dislike "Techno drome", I would have much prefered hearing an entire album in the same vain, then trying to cope with a bunch of lame cross over wanna be hits. My final verdict? I guess it still stands! While this album has some definitive stand outs, it's the low end of Amen which goes soooo low, that I simply cannot give this album a higher vote than my original one!

[@reyu]

After reading these very elaborate reviews, nicely done by the way, I can say you're right Astral Projection has adapted a more clubby-oriented style since, and even prior to, Amen. Though AP has always been regarded as Goa-pioneers, they always have been embraced by Clubtrance Dj's across the globe. Think of John oo Fleming for instance, or Paul Oakenfold, using Astral's tracks in their Dj-sets and compilation albums even in the 90's. Haven't heard any Goa-freak complain about that.

I prefer Goa over Clubtrance any day, but I do enjoy some mixed Ministry of Sound Clubtrance compilation albums. My point is, though they sound clubby, I haven't heard a Clubtrance track similar to what AP is doing or has done imo. AP has always flirted with the more clubby-oriented trance but never turned their backs to their Goa fanbase. You can say what you want about the Amen album, or their recent output, they never abandoned their sound or style if you ask me. They never jumped on the Fullon-bandwagon, I think they produced 2 similar-to-Fullon tracks, neither did they sell their soul to commercial pop trance style. I think it's possible you can crossover between styles without losing your identity like AP does.

That being said Amen isn't their strongest album to date. They tried to improve their sound a bit but without alienating them from the fans. Don't forget this was a time when Goa was lying flat on his back, with very few Goa releases. It resurrected from 2003 on, thankfully, but I give them props for doing what they did back then when most artists followed the Fullon movement.

I think pretty much everything has been said about the tracks so here are my fav tracks:

 

2, 3, 4, 7, 8(why not ),9

 

7,5/10

[Sideffect...]

Astral projection - Amen (2002)

Astral projection needs no introduction off course. Many people

consider this as their worst album. And I agree. But then again

Astral projection has created so many good stuff It had to happen

some day. Keeping up such a high level of performance is impossible

for any artist. The problem is that people probably expected something

else in 2002 cause Astral projection did stuck to their success formula

and Amen is besides a good production quality nothing different compared

to their other releases. There is a huge lack of originality. The album is very slow

and the melodies aren't defiant or inspiring as we are used to have from AP.

But after all it's a relaxing album and if this was released in 2012 I think

people would respond differently and maybe love the fact that they stuck

to their formula instead of becoming totally morning fullon. Who knows!

 

Discogs: http://www.discogs.c...men/master/8796

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Is there a project that receives more scrutiny than this one? It's easy to pile on with the criticism of Astral and have done so myself.

 

Once the Led Zeppelin of goa trance, Astral has now become a parody of itself. With an album people think is going to be more mindless full on there have been more delays and postponements than my country coming up with a budget. They now have more in common with Limp Bizkit.

 

 

You know back in the day you were doing it all for the nookie.

 

Thing is, as uncool as it may be to like the tired sound of the Bizkit, at least they're still releasing music. I don't care what the excuse is after awhile it becomes tiresome and people stop caring.

 

This is now 11 years old and to my ears is a great listen. Goa trance with a new coat of paint that while it doesn't have their once upon a time complexity and depth, it is still floaty and enjoyable. Maybe they're victims of unfortunate timing as only a year later the masses were ready for a goa trance resurgence. These were minimal times when this came out where you had to blow someone to get a melody. It remained totally within their style with shimmering synths and stratosphere reaching melodies. Anyone disappointed with this release may have had unrealistic expectations.

 

Astral at their finest was a snapshot in time that was so mind altering that it could never be recreated.

 

Like rap. I would love to go back to the time when rap was smart and edgy and relevant before this simple verbal diarrhea we get today with every schmuck pretending to be a gangsta banging away on a Casio. Times change and peoples tastes do as well for good or bad. How would you like to be stuck in the disco era?

 

So take this for what it is...a good album that has all the Astral touches that made them great back in the day.

 

Snag yourself a copy right here.

 

 

Mdk

[psy1982]

Reading this topic literally made me very sad.
And angry.

This album is incredible, it is their best album, just 0.1mm above Another World.
No Im not crazy.

Hear me out.
This album is so effin good, you dont even realise it the first few listens. It took me a damn year to finally realise Infinite Justice is by far my favorite Astral track.
The production, the mixing, the construction, the sequencing, the philosophy - It is one of a few masterpieces out there.

But this album is not just Infinite Justice.
It has more masterpieces. How is it possible. More than one masterpiece in one album?
Yup.

Electric Blue.
I dont think I have EVER heard such production quality and mixing skills. This is better than Pleiadians, Hallucinogen, and other top-notch producers.
This is even better than Astral.
Oh wait. Its Astral.

More excellent tracks though.
Chaos. Complete monster. Wonderfully happy and cheerful, so is The Nexus.

Techno Drome. WHOA. Its not a masterpiece but the mixing.. O M G.
Have you ever heard this track on REALLY loud volume?
It is like you are transported to another dimension.
A "Techno Drome".

The production and detail going into this album is BY FAR the best Astral has EVER done.


I am so ashamed of my peers, the culture, the Goatrance "movement", the critics, everyone who claimed this album was bad.

SHAME ON YOU.

 

And to astral - if you read this. I am SO happy you didnt just give up after you recieved critic on this album. It was your best effort ever - and people hated it.

I am so happy you didnt just stop then. Many people would.

But to us, your TRUE fans, this is your best album.

 

 

It is, a complete wonder of existance. And it is completely MIND BOGGLING how people cannot see the 100 carat diamond that is this Album.

MIND BOGGLING.

 

Thanks for your time.

 

 

[astralprojection]

i just wanna say, what he said.

this album is wayy underrated.

[astralprojection]

electric blue, and the nexus is for sure the best ones on there imho. There are some poor ones like Sticks and stones but its such a cool futuristic and more minimal approach and they really nailed it tbh. Techno Drome is also a killer track and infinite justice.