VA - Radjhani Xpress 'The Sound of India'

[frozen dream]

 

Samsara's second, and of course another Darkpsy compilation! I'm not the biggest fan of darkpsy but every now and then i can appreciate it. Let's see what this cd has to offer.

 

 

 

Schizobot - Pstyrofoam 7:10

Very nice, tribal percs in the beginning, smooth bassriff, full atmo. Rolls on and then come the squelchy riffs. Good psychedelic feel throughout the track but no real mad climax or interesting evolution. Just a solid darkpsy track without extra fanciness(fancyness??). A very promising start!

 

Gidra - Adam Leatherface 7:00

Funny and direct intro. Gidra is also one of those names i like to see appear on a dark compil. Here he gives us a funky stomping and squeaking track with a very funny Adam's Family-jingle-psytrance-sounds-editted-over break. Halas, after this break there is little innovation or change. Just steadily squeaks on to the end. I really dislike the last part of this track.

 

White Wizard - Metalized 7:35

Very nice indian enchanting intro!!! Then ZANG bass in your face! Deep and monstrously throbbing bassline. Mesmerizing little sounds all over. A girl floats through. Nice and building, I remember his track on No Comment Vol.1, which was quite powerfull. This one is just a tiny little more subtle. It builds more and has more breaks. The break in this track is perfectly timed and very nice sounding. Nice fx, sounds and techniques untill the end. Very entertaining darkpsy this is!

 

Bloodclot - Time End Life Begins 7:32

Nice intro like the previous track, and also bangs in fullon with some monstrous bassline. This one has note variations which i find very suiting for his track. It's a bit of a silly and fluffy atmo in the first part really, even with all this deep bass madness. Hehe, and then comes a small break, and after that the standard brainmelting sounds begin. Very twisted atmo which i really like. One mindripping tantrum of one psychedelic synthsound does all the work here. Then there's just another break and a repetition of the brainmelting sounds. Less appreciated.

 

Vasuki - Radjhani Xpress 7:33

I think this one is aiming to be atmospheric and storytelling. It does a nice job for a part but is rather empty and lacks drive. And then there's that overused preset i know from countless other psytrance tracks. Hmm... still, can't say it's a bad track.

 

Spiral - Fury Within 7:16

Funky humpy jumpy kicks it off, then we shift to darkpsy mode. All the carnival sounds like gaming in the lunapark when u where a kid.

One note bassline while it could've been different i guess. This track has a very good and strong drive but lacks in musicality. Too monotonous without any key changes or atmo switching. The first five minutes would still work well on a dancefloor as it's insane carnival, but after that it gets quickly boring.

 

Silent Horror - Diseketed 7:07

Of course, this was one of the names that got me interested in this album in the first place. Jigar is the authority when it comes to the sound of darkpsy in india i think. His album on Devilsmind rec last year was very good so i was very interested in hearing this. And boy does this track deliver!! It's funny though, in a way it's not very different from the previous track. Same carnival nintendo synths and monotonous drive. but this guy knows how to keep it interesting. Small key changes and pitch shifts at the end of riffs breaks the monotonity (haha is that even a word ) (monotonousness ) Very psychedelic parts and even more psychedelic parts!!! One insance dancefloor creation and a snap sound that makes me think of gms-the caterpillar.(lol) He breaks down the drive just at the right time and it's all over before you know it! What a talent this guy!

 

Triamera - Phrikyhorror 7:00

This one continues the psychedelic spree of madness Jigar started just now. Insane drive, unhuman screeching sounds and a very moving bassline. Firmly keeps it grip on the term 'psychedelic'. Virtual overload.

 

Flipknot - Intense Vivid Bharti 7:13

Maybe it's good thing the bassline in this track is way more softer. Still to me it lacks a bit of power. Not that interesting track, many simple riffs and screaming background voices. Good effort though, by the end it gets really strong but then it takes a dive again to build off on to the outro.

 

Devic - Endless 8:35

In the same line of the previous but with a bit more power. The phased sound riff i like less where it not that it's pretty present thoughout the track. Seems like some loose end filler.

 

 

 

In overall not very bad, you get five killer tracks out of ten. Something rather unseen in the dark bussiness for me. Samsara have really tried to deliver a firm piece of dark indianness again and they've done quite a decent job if you ask me! The idea and feel is very coherent and most tracks really try to tell a good story. It's of course difficult to give a high score to an album with half of the tracks considered 'less' but the favs deserve an honorworthy mention and even a buy!

 

favs: 1,3,4,7,8

 

6/10

 

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