tbe Posted January 12, 2002 Author Share Posted January 12, 2002 Matenda - Energy Loader Artist: Matenda Title: Energy Loader Label: Spiral Trax Date: 2001 Track listing: 01. 10'39" Welcome Sunshine 02. 08'24" Adverse Selection 03. 09'04" Creative Destruction 04. 09'02" Energy Loader 05. 08'31" Free Rider 06. 08'17" You Can Run But You ... 07. 09'55" Faros 08. 10'32" Lipo Mare Review: Debut album from Denis Matenda. A swedish guy with croatians parents. After releasing some stuff on various compils, here it is his album on the Gothenburg based label : Spiral Trax. First track, "welcome sunshine" is a typical swedish progressive sound as Atmos or S-Range can do... very nice ! Track 2, "Adverse Selection" is more morning sound but always with this swedish touch plus some Goa flavours...great ! T 3 " Creative Destruction" (at this moment you should be dancing with the smile :-) is a good progressive track, with a groovy and rather fast rythm. Reminds me a bit Klein Aber Doctor. Track 4 , "Energy Loader" is first half, more dark and more minimal than the previous tracks. Then come a morning melody....not the best track of the album. T 5 " Free rider" has nice synthe sounds, very positive and lighty. Track 6, " You can run but you ..." ;-) has less this scando touch, a different track from the others.. T8, "Faros" is a great track..the rythm is not very fast but very powerfull....an hypnotic track ! Last track, " Lipo Mare" is a nice mid-tempo track. If you like Atmos, S-range or Vibrasphere, you will like Matenda ! His album is one of the highlight of the begenning of this year 2002. He can make positive stuff, very lighty or more dark, more minimal. A perfect sound for the dance floor. No doubt scando sounds is one of the best, and congratulations to Spiral Trax label for releasing Matenda album ! Rating : 8,5/10 ( or 9 ?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gizmo Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 Another Atmos like project. Some tracks sounds like in 90% Atmos work, it's too similar, but some tracks are listenable. Typical good morning trance 6/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woutre Posted January 12, 2002 Share Posted January 12, 2002 I think this the most disapointing releases of Spiral Trax sofar. I was looking out for this one, but there's not one single track on this which is even remotely interesting to me. It may be inspired by S-range, Atmos etc but those 2 do a far far better job and have much better sounds, skills and ideas. It's just one cliche after another and it all sounds very 2D, boring and uninspired to me. Also the production could be much fatter. A pointless release 5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest the OPUL project Posted January 25, 2002 Share Posted January 25, 2002 wonderful morning trance, throughout the entire album. I keep reading lots of comparison to Atmos, must say though that quite a few people that I know who can't stand Atmos still dig this album :-) It is a bit different to Matenda's 12" releases, I expected a bit harder stuff to be on the album, but I am most certainly not complaining. This is fluffy morning sound as it should be IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tomvcarter Posted January 28, 2002 Share Posted January 28, 2002 I had been waiting for this release for a while now, but am dissapointed now i have it. It fits about half way between the atnos sound and the s-range sound, but does not seem to work anywhere near as well as these two. I sounds a bit old and simple, a 1998/9 release type. The best track in my opinion which shines above the rest, is "you can run...." which has a really nice deep groove to it, which just builds throught. If you like the sweedish sound, go and buy the atmos album, its 10 times better than this. Dissapointing! 5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rokkitz Posted February 2, 2002 Share Posted February 2, 2002 I agree... I was totally looking forward to this album and it was a total disappointment... his stuff sounds like a dumbed-down mishmash of vibrasphere, atmos & srange... absolutely no new musical ideas, just retravelling the path that others have gone before, and not even well at that... derivative crap like this is totally pointless when you could just listen to the ideas in their original form on older releases. BOOOOO!!! 2/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Acidhive Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 Well, I'll have to agree with those people who say he doesn't have his own unique style, but this cd is still pretty cool in my opinion. At least it's better than some of the more soulless minimal stuff out there.. Matenda clearly listened to Atmos really well, but does have a certain warm, pumping feeling that other releases seem to lack a bit nowadays. I can listen to this pretty often and not get bored... I'd give it a 8/10 for that matter and there are no real stand-outs.. just good solid stuff here. Although the Atmos likeness is uncanny at times, even his sign looks the same, the headphones and the name between them... Atmos anyone? ;-) Still, besdides that... just good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Candlejack Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 Just listened to this.. fab album!! Atmos style like, but still original...!! Great grooves also... That song Energy Loader... whooaaa...!! Excellent stuff.... 9/10 ?? Yeah... 9/10 !! Must buy 4 those Atmos likers out there...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Freaky Bob Posted March 28, 2002 Share Posted March 28, 2002 as published in march/april issue of upfront magazine: Title: Energy Loader Artist: Matenda Label: Spiral Trax. Energy Loader is a deep, mindful, meditative and progressive experience. It is not one of those albums that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you somewhere weirdly high, it is more of a gentle but firm easing into a heightened state of awareness. As the various layers gradually combine you find yourself, all of a sudden, confronted with a sweeping sonic landscape. freaky bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest djsupernova[at]goatrance[dot]com Posted May 19, 2002 Share Posted May 19, 2002 i can't believe people are knocking this album left and right. okay, so it sounds a bit like atmos and s-range, but i think he definately has his own style. it takes a little concentration to appreciate this album fully, but when you do, the reward is wonderful. beautiful soundscapes that would be killer at a desert party after sunrise. subtle grooves with spacious sounds that would ooze out of the soundsystem and be carried by the wind. love it! 8.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freak51 Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 Typical Swedish dub-informed atmospheric sounds on top of typical new-Swedish-school-psytrance percussion. Typical everything - but still there is a definite unique subtle signature to it that I can't quite put my finger on. Is it enough to save the release? I vote for no. 6/10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeletonMan Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Melodic progressive? Well, definitely with a progressive perspective Denis Matenda is keeping matters close to core, but not afraid to go in a more melodic direction when the need calls for it. The ones I like the best here are the classic progressive compositions. Creative Destruction and You Can Run But You Can't Hide drives a dark proggy beat, slowly building the track, but never loosing my attention. On title track Energy Loader Matenda goes almost Atmos. Check out for instance the part from 3:33. This has Atmos written all over it! But not copy/paste like. Matenda has his own way of doing things and it's a great track. Another section I really like is Adverse Selection from 5:30. Why make things any harder than they need to be? Fans of progressive trance bordering minimal land will most certainly get a kick out of this, while the more melodic inspiration here and there may make this album appeal also to the psytrance oriented listener. A strong 3/5 over all, but played at the right time most of the tracks would go 5 stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 I found this release to be quite boring. Mind you, it was eight years ago when this was made. It is your basic progressive beat with some light synths and pads. Very near minimal at times. It plods along straight ahead without any evolution or destination. If you compare it to stuff nowadays, well, it just doesn't hold up. Mdk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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