Etnica - Nitrox

[Guest gs]

Good comments Connor & epic automata! I experienced the same. Equator which

took a couple of months to appreciate, but now it's definately one of the best

records I own.

About this album, I was more careful judging it too quick altough my my first

though while listening through it was "oh no!". It sure gets better and better.

Thank you etnica for yet an amazing and innovative release.

[freak51]

I took the advice of the many above who singled out 'Beast Man' and listened to

it, hard, on headphones. Wow! Gorgeous track.

[Guest AshonaciD[at]shpongle[dot]com]

it's funny how half the people say its wonderful and the other half shit :/

[Guest Space Immigration Project]

The ambient tracks (especially Beastman and Ritual Plants) are worth buying the

album

[Guest Psychopath]

Why is everybody so horney on the old stuff..music is changing...This album is

fuckin great!! And it´s not minimal if u compare it to the german stuff,

man..this is wonderful psychedelic trance 9/10

[spacemonkey]

at first I too did not like it but give it some time and you will find the

really strong energy that is put into this album. And if you listen really

good i can hardly call this minimal there are so much different sounds in it!

This album just really rocks my mind and it's a sure killer, just open up and

try not to stick too much to the old sounds alone, they are great but

something different from time to time can be great too, you can at least say

they evolve. the ambient tracks on the album (the last four) are really well

produced and especially The Beast Man rocks, the beautifull sounding guitar

and then that apocaliptic voice ....just great!!!

[Guest [Anonymous]]

if im not wrong that voice from beast man is from the planet of the apes

movie... the original one

[Guest Xymaths]

All bass and percussion. Non existent melodies from a group who used make the

most beautiful ones. Shame really.

[Guest GIOVANNI 7]

Max and Mauricio are one of the best groups in psycho music.NItrox really kicks

ass!!!keep on the good work and see u at SOLA LUNA 2002:)

[Guest Old ETNICA 'fan']

This is not the real ETNICA stuff, because that's shit music. :-((((((

I hope that the new Pleiadians album are better music.

ETNICA*nitrox* 2/10

[psychedelic sunrize]

When I heard about the new album of Etnica I was collecting money to buy their

cd.When I heard it for the first time I said to myself that the good old days

that Etnica was producing kicking tracks are gone,in comparison with their

great,chaotic and melodic pleiadeians album(FOL).Now that the time has passed

and I heard it better the most i hear it the most i like it.In my home,in my

car,everywhere.I believe that Etnica are getting better and better and improve

their sound.my opinion for this f....g album is 8/10.

[Guest kadafi]

This album really surprised me! The first 2 trax are based on a 'technomodule'

like the sample in 'I am the shadow of myself' says... they're not special...

but the following 3 seem to be so good to me that I cannot understand other

peoples bad comment about them: the Robot Rebellion mix is UN-believable!!!

for those who think it's not; please buy yourselves some decent headgear or

put your head between your systems...whatever...you shall hear... about

'Nitrox': aint that voice sample a killah? once again, never heard a KICK like

this before! And then comes 'Small Doses' = notice how they have worked on

their voice-samples?! brilliant! I have no experience making music whatsoever,

so I can't give a lot of technical terms (unfortionately)... but as a trained

listener I can only tell you that I have NEVER heard a single non-melodic

track that reached the level of tracks 3&5.... They manage to lift you up with

rhythms and effects instead of with melodies...SO... if you liked NOT ONLY the

melodix BUT ALSO the amazing rhythmix of Etnicas former albs. AND you concider

yourself to be TOTALLY OPENMINDED...(=not HOOKED on their previous

styles)...then I suggest you should try out this NITROX!!! rating: 99% for

3&5... no rating for the first 2... 70% for the chilling and the rest!!!

[Guest [Anonymous]]

The Beast Man (8) makes my brain go "...ahhhh..." ;p

[Guest Alpo]

nice album..8,5/10..

;D

[seraph]

What a dissapointement ! Huh ! This is really strange twistor such a strong,

positive and radical group...They entered the dark realms that simply don't

fit them...This is incrediblly prepotent album...especially TECHNOSHIT that I

really don't understand...Such a great quartet to be POISONED by this general

EVIL influence is a real shame...Only 2 good trax on the album for me

TRIPTONITE REMIX that is simply great....and RITUAL PLANTS....Rest is below

the grade....Very dissapointing....I usually don't have bad critics cause I

like every kind of trance except that soft one from beggining but this is real

TECHNOSHIT ! Sorry....3/10 cause of bad, prepotent , drastic change and 8/10

for triptonite and ritual plants...

[Guest XenoMorph]

Like all BIG Bands (not the ones that exist for a year or 2), the evolution in

ETNICA has begun since "The Juggling Alchemists Under The Black Light".

So this is their present state of evolution!

Personaly... "ALIEN PROTEIN" is the best Album EVER!!!!

But still this is ETNICA, it's there... perhaps not all of you can understrand

that

[khogg]

This is fucking intense. The chill stuff, is okay. My favorite is the bangin,

driving, newer sounding stuff. Influenced by the current trends? Yes, no

doubt. But what does that mean? No, it doesn't sound like Alien Protein, and

let me say, I love that album. Alien Protein is a masterpiece, and is this?

Time will tell. I can only say that the energy of say...nitrox...or, I am the

shadow of myself... is unbelievable. You can hear the elements of he old. Many

sounds, layered together, with an incredible groove mixed in. Wow. Less

blatant melody, that's the revolution or evolution. Relentless!

[Guest acmec[at]websidorna[dot]com]

Well I was really disapointed with this cd. Where are the spirit of Alien

Protein and Juggleing.. The only song that I really like is The Beast Man (and

the mix of triptonite of course)

[Guest spirosgoa[at]goatrance[dot]com]

Its unbelievable... so great, so different!I believe that Etnica are getting

better and better and wants to

to find new sounds and new thnigs in music!

[Guest [Anonymous]]

It´s to much soft chill out tracks on this cd...

but i really like "Small doses"

[Guest transphere]

Well, I must say this is the best album by Etnica so far! I find all tracks

very good. 9/10

[Guest Onyxura]

Well.. Etnica at it's poorest so far. tracks one through 6 is pure shit, it

seems. Very unlike Etnica. I can understand how they want to approach the

minimal style, but come on! There is nothing in here! The last slower tracks

are ok, though. Nothing spectacular, but ok music. All in all, this one isn't

worth the money. Seems etnica need to lay off the cocaine and concentrate on

making music again. 3/10 bom!

[Guest Tournesol]

I read many opinions about this album...that's funny! Well...i find that this

music is misunderstood. The fact is that Etnica from 1995 till 2002 is one of

the best psytrance groups in the world. Their music has really involved in

this time. How? When I bought equator in 99, i didnt like it...it was weirdy,

too atmospheric etc etc. One year later i heard it again, and i found that it

is one of the best cds and its still on of the best. I mean that etnica's

music is more advanced, and not easy to understand. It's the same thing about

nitrox and chrome. You have to listen many times to understand.

Well this album is a combination of acid trance, minimal trance, psychedelic

trance and ambient trance. Etnica have many things to show! T1: a funky

progressive track, a little bit house, but nice to dance. T2: this is real

technoshit, a mindblowing track about the irony of this music. T3: a great

minimal track, really robotic , T4: this is a normal psytrance track, not

boring, with nice sounds, then we come to the mindblowing T5: a track about

drugs, when you listen to it you think you're on a trip. T6:a "samba-ish"

track with percussion and nice progression. The next 4 tracks are ambient,

wonderful chillout...T7:a nice chillout track, reminding Funkadelia T8: a

guitar is playing a nice melody and other sounds are giving a nice atmosphere.

T9: this one has real nice melodies, a bit goa-ish...T10: this is a remix of

triptonite with flutes and piano, really relaxant... i give this album a: 8/10

[Jon Cocco]

ETNICA - NITROX

2001

SPIRIT ZONE RECORDS

 

 

 

 

Track list:

 

01. 07'39" I Am The Shadow Of Myself - B-

02. 06'17" Technoshit - B-

03. 07'06" Robot Rebellion (Live Mix) - C

04. 07'40" Nitrox - B-

05. 08'37" Small Doses - B

06. 06'39" Sambadrome - C+

07. 05'27" Vega - B

08. 08'31" The Beast Man - A-

09. 06'42" Ritual Plants - A-

10. 07'46" Triptonite (Playa Rmx) - A-

 

 

I initially refused to buy Nitrox because half the reviews said it was basically terrible. I curiously listened to the first several sample tracks on Saikosounds during 2001-2003. Based on the samples at the time, Nitrox sounded to me like Etnica sold out to make cheap filler techno. The reviews on this site had confirmed it and I left it alone for some time. To be accurate Nitrox was and is absolutely nothing like their earlier stuff. But I loved old-school Pleiadians. I was less familiar with Etnica at the time. But soon I'd own theirt Alien Protein and Equator album that I also first heard in 2004. Over time I returned to Saikosounds and listened to the samples on Nitrox. All of them. I found several real stand out songs towards the end that got my attention. One day I decided to order the album. My intuition told me this would be the most disappointing Etnica album that I'd buy since each release seemed to be further away from what I liked after 1999's Equator which I recently just wrote a review for on here.

 

I think many people were disappointed with Nitrox because techno, trance, and tech-trance in general seems totally a step backwards for such impressive, innovative artists as Etnica to go near. I can understand that and believe me, from Juggeling Alchemists, Alien Protein, and Equator I both enjoy and graded Nitrox the least high. I like it the least of the four but more objectively, consider it the most mixed due to their choice to pursue a genre that would have been worth pursuing maybe had they raised the bar on what's been done. They didn't. That said, Nitrox isn't entirely a bad album let alone half of one. If you look at it for what it is, these guys decided to pursue the psy/tech-trance and seldom but existent techno side (more like psy-techno but it isn't that psychedelic) and do something different relative to their past works. The first six tracks are clearly not going for that melodic Goa or even straight up Psy-Trance style with exception to Small Doses as the latter. They even call their second track TECHNO SHIT(!) Seriously, can it get any more obvious? Sure they were trying something new or paying homage or whatever. It doens't matter now. Etnica was producing amazing Goa-Trance for their time when Prodigy was big in Techno via 1995 and yet Nitrox released in 2001 so theoretically the idea of Etnica releasing anything related to Techno or Tech-Trance makes them a bit late. The point is they tried something more minimal and in the tech/trance realm and it's nothing great. Several tracks are pretty cool for what they are before the solid chill ending. No more. No less.

 

I agree that the realm of techno, trance, or techn-trance doesn't seem anywhere near as interesting or deep for Etnica to explore relative to their previous work. It makes a real fan wonder actually, what happened?! Naturally if you were initially expecting their awesome older style, you'll be very disappointed with the opening track being the first in this sound... but the minimal, bangy sound kind of has a groovy feel to it; I like its opening too. While tracks 1 and 4 are more minimal, I think they're pretty good for what they are. The squeeky melody work and several supporting sounds on track 1 are pretty cool and it's very danceable. If you listen to the style throughout the first six or so tracks you can compare and select the more fresh and catchy songs. On the other hand I'd say Robot Rebellion (Live Mix) along with Technoshit is not good, (although I prefer the latter especially at 1:18 forward) regardless if they were paying homage or not. On the other hand I actually like the self titled Nitrox track. It has a pretty good beat and melody/sound work however considering it's supposed to be minimal. And track 5, Small Doses is good!, probably the first real Psy-Trance track on the album. I really like the buildup, peek, and release into the attractive, driving tech-trance rhythm and main melody in Small Doses compiled to a relentless hard beat. The sample is pretty cool too. Again you have to look at this for what it is or you may hate it judging from their earlier work in comparison.

 

In conclusion, Etnica brings two styles together on this album, and keeps them separated. The group seems to have split their old fans in half due to a different, more minimal and tech-trance style for the first 6/10 tracks. This controversial approach shows tracks that lack virtually everything (but the artists themselves) that made their earlier work so superb and therefore loved. If you're a fan of Etnica's earlier Goa-Trance and can accept that 6/10 songs here can be categorized around techn-trance you'll likely enjoy this more than those expecting Etnica's old style which this is everything but, until the end in a sense. People generally seem to really appreciate the last 3-4 tracks on Nitrox and I do too. Actually I would love and have loved an entire album in this great chill style. Who wouldn't? But it is what it is. Greatness is left as a good bye to their old fans if even that wasn't the goal or intention before Etnica decided to move on to the more common, mainstream realm of Full On and whatever Electronica they're producing now days. I never bought an album past Nitrox in 2001 because the samples for their new stuff turned me off with each new album they've released to date. Regardless of their reasoning for Nitrox, I think it's a fairly admirable attempt at trying something different while not leaving their fans lifeless because of the last several tracks. I see why many old fan' reactions were mixed to say the least. Nitrox is nothing what I expected either coming from the artists behind Pleiadians, Crop Circles... I mean these guys crafted some excellent tracks.

 

If you look at this without the high expectations of Alien Protein and knowing this is a completely different style, you may enjoy some of the techno and trance songs. Regardless, Etnica's strength in creating solid chill tracks are proven again on the back-end of Nitrox. They're the jewel in the crown. Vega is good. Beast Man is great, there's something beautiful about it. Ritual Plants is excellent. And Triptonight (Playa Rmx) is very good, maybe great but not even they can top the original. The more intense psy/techno work isn't entirely bad although I greatly prefer their Goa and chill work over them doing Techno, Tech-Trance, or Full On anyday. If you can look at Nitrox like two separate albums placed together, one experimental and one chill follow-up (which in both senses it kind of is to Etnica) you may enjoy this alot more because you aren't comparing so much. Regardless, people remember the end should they make it that far, and the end to this album is very memorable.

 

 

 

Favorite tracks: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

 

 

B

[Jon Cocco]

I love the last third of this album. I never fully understood why the rest of the album wasn't so beautiful. It's like two short albums in one. They had something so wonderful going post Vega; it's unfortunate these guys never released a downtempo/Chill album in this awesome style.