Electric Universe - Sonic Ecstasy

[Lemmiwinks]

 

1. Sonic Ecstasy

2. Conscious

3. Peak

4. The Riff

5. Young Man On Acid

6. Holografic

7. Music Of The Spheres

8. Silence In Action

9. Psycho Acoustics

10. The Prayer 2009

 

My God I can't believe how incredibly cheezy EU's new style has become. If Boris Blenn's name wasn't specifically mentioned here I would've thought it was some other artist with the same project name.

 

Sonic Ecstacy and Consious are pure generic full-on, press skip on your CD (or USB ) player...

 

Peak is more interesting since it brings in some nice flute sounds, but still there's nothing to get too excited here either.

 

The Riff is much better with some... guitar riffs as you'd expect by reading the track name. It is still on the commercial side of things, nothing to do with other guitar classics from EU like Meteor but still there is a nice feel-good vibe in there which I like.

 

Young Man on Acid is more on the serious side of things, although still miles aways from his old stuff, I can't believe someone can mention the word acid and not put some 303s in there. Still, this is one of the better tracks here.

 

Holografic is pretty interesting as it brings in some oldschool acid house piano melodies blended in with full-on, I must say I like this one a lot, too bad it tends to cross the cheezy territory a bit too often.

 

Music of the Spheres is again some generic full-on that could've been made by just about anyone.

 

Silence in Action... have some patience and listen until minute 4:00 AAAAAHHHH FINALLY some typical EU sounds in here!!! Too bad there is the trademark full-on basline on top which kindof ruins the feeling, still this the best track on this album IMO and fully deserves the dancefloor killa™ seal of approval

 

Psycho Acoustics actually sounds like some Space Tribe, I guess some synth presets remained saved from their last collaboration. Pretty nice tune, more on the serious side of things.

 

Last is a full-on remix of The Prayer... pretty bad result if you ask me, although I have to admit that I never was a big fan of the original either.

 

 

THE GOOD: there are some definate dancefloor killaz in there... track 8 has one of the best climaxes I've heard in a while

 

THE BAD: umm is this Boris Blenn or Sesto Sento or Melicia or DNA or Fatali or Astrix or Save the Robot or (insert the name of your favorite generic full-on band here)...?

 

 

Conclusion fans of oldschool EU will be dissapointed by this one... most of it is so generic that you have a hard time spotting Boris Blenn's touch behind the cheezy melodies and trademark full-on rolling bassline. Still, the album does have its moments (track 8 OMG!!!) so in the end I guess this is exactly what you'd expect from an EU album: mostly average tracks with some golden nuggets in between. 8/10

[Navje]

you don't sound all too positive about this, so how come an 8? that's pretty high..

[Lemmiwinks]

you don't sound all too positive about this, so how come an 8? that's pretty high..

 

well generally speaking I prefer an album that has 2 killer tracks and the rest average to one that has only good but not great tracks

[frozen dream]

haha good ol' lemmiwinks electric universe turned commy back in 2002 something

 

never been a fan though

[Maden]

A bit tired with the EU style, but i have to admit the good effort here, and a solid Silence In Action track, that kicked my ass. The Peak track is another good track that i like to play often.

 

But track 5 ? what s that ? and the remix off the classic Prayer, why doing it, it s just the same no ?

 

Anyway that for energy.

[reger]

Wow, ive missed quite a few releases Gotta go and check out some samples !

 

edit, mini feedback based on saikosounds 4min long samples:

 

1. Sonic Ecstasy - not EU im used to, not a bad nor too good thing either, more like old EU combined with todays fullon, but not old EU vs new EU, more like little bit of old EU vs fullon. Hmm, this particular track is so so atm.

 

2. Conscious - Good dance track, but not the EU i loved recent years Bit of dull or smthn compared to Silence In Action/Cosmic Experience, but still EU still bears some kind of quality seal imo.

 

3. Peak - Fucking simple and fucking good, with lil bit of cheese, like it, tho bit too monotone at some short parts imo

 

4. The Riff - Some kind of muddy pseudo-hippie guitar riff all over, cheesy guitarzzz, cheap imo and boring.

 

5. Young Man On Acid - The older their grow, the cheezier their track names Something more interesting here, i like it, bit of ESP here, gives you hints what could be possible sound of next ESP album (if i havent missed it already and its out, 3rd one)? Little bit monotone shortly before the end of sample, imo.

 

6. Holografic - Nothing much to say, dont know, should give this more listens, but sounds good at some parts, really good !

 

7. Music Of The Spheres - I like, kinda ESP like-ish, but bit dull at parts

 

8. Silence In Action - Its ok at parts, sounds like Silenece In Action EU style, maybe bit of psy cheese to it, too much of cheddar trance aka tiesto shite here

 

9. Psycho Acoustics - Its ok, but sounds somewhere heard, somewhere cheesy, somewhere pop-trance, somewhere boring at break at the end. Also would like to hear it all to make less biased statement.

 

10. The Prayer 2009 - Not much changed judging by this sample. Sounds really good, love the original

 

edit@22.04.09.

[Pandemonium]

Im really digging this album, I was never a big fan of guitars in psytrance so I always steered clear of EU, but now without the guitars in most tracks im really enjoying this. Alot of energy and vital danceability. I dont really see what is so boring or the same formula here. I think there is alot of substance. Sometimes I find myself trying to listen to alot of the stuff that people reccomend on this sight, but Im liking alot of stuff that most dont like. Call it cheese, but cheese is the bees knees ya dig

[Penzoline]

Meh. I liked Sonic Ecstasy(Best track here), Conscious, Holografic and Silence In Action, but the rest are just too cheesy and/or incredibly generic and boring.

 

Oh yeah, the prayer remix is garbage. The original is a good track imo, but the remix just rapes it.

 

Music of the Spheres is again some generic full-on that could've been made by just about anyone.

Agreed.

[CyclotronMajesty]

This is truly one of the best Psy-trance Albums ever made.

 

Doesn't get old - the sophistication of the sound and the power of the music is unprecedented.

 

These two certainly have a gift. Sonic Ecstasy indeed. Very positive. This album is very special.

 

I just hope Boris Blenn and Michael Dressler can keep up this level of brilliance in further works.

 

A masterpiece.

 

9.25/10

[Trance2MoveU]

This puppy has definitely generated vastly different opinions. Boris is a legend so he can do whatever he wants with artistic license. He seems to excel these days doing the downtempo stuff and maybe that's because he was such a rock for so long with the trance thing that he's bored with it. Who knows, but his last album Higher Modes was an absolute stink fest and just labeling your music Ecstasy smacks of maybe a little too much confidence.

 

But count me in the group that liked this release. The first two tracks didn't really sound like his style, and while I liked the first one, the second one...ZZZzzzzzz....*jerks awake and hits head on table* Damnit!!!

 

The Prayer remix is good, but how is it different than the original again? Quit riding the coattails of great tracks!

 

Psycho Acoustic s is a typical EU acid smash and so is Silence In Action. Funny that the latter wasn't put on the album...hmmm, I don't know...Silence In Action?

I really like Music of the Spheres, Young Man On Acid and Holografic also, but let's be honest...it sounds like a lot of other EU tracks.

 

The Riff...I can't get passed that nonsense at the beginning and the guitar doesn't get any better. This is subtraction by subtraction.

 

Mdk