Va - Terraformer

[Tsotsi]

Artist: Various (Many various artists)

Label: Global Sect

Title: Terraformer

Release: 2017

 

Tracklist

1. Centavra Project - Terraformer 08:44

2. Celestial Intelligence - Words of Wisdom 07:48

3. Alienapia - Night Train 07:34

4. Centavra Project - Strange Object09:09

5. Psy-H Project - The Essence of Bhagavat-Gita 11:40

6. Alienapia - Are you Mad? 08:49

7. Mindsphere - Enchanted Land 09:07

8. Javi & Skooma - Fucked Up Beyond Repair 07:21

9. Omnivox - Pangea 08:14

10. Sykespico - Edge of Infinity (Part 1)12:02

11. Median Project - Mad Space 07:27

12. Atlantis - Sacred Mantra 10:32

13. Fiery Dawn - Searching For UFOs (Median Project Rmx) 08:34

14. Clementz - Conquer the Universe 07:16

15. Omneon - Indian Walk 09:00

16. Atlantis - A Journey Out Of Your Mind07:31

17. Median Project - The Third Element07:38

18. Skarma - Cianendeon 08:30

19. Fiery Dawn - Vibrating Universe 06:16

20. Zopmanika - Message to God 09:13

21. Raving Universe - Ascension 07:17

22. Psy-H Project – Gaura Nitay 09:43

23. Centavra Project - Journey To Another Worlds (Mix 2017) 09:19

24. Atlantis - Space Mantra 08:37

25. Man With No Name - Posessed (Cosmic Dimension rmx) 07:43

26. Mindsphere - Hidden Depth 07:24

27. Artifact303 - Contact 08:18

28. Psy-H Project - Krishna or Maya 15:54

29. Fiery Dawn - Magma 03:51

30. Liquid Flow - Event Horizon 06:18

31. Katedra - Evolutionary Stream 09:03

32. Fiery Dawn - Starlight 06:35

33. Slow Reflections - In a Rain Drop 10:07

34. Artifact303 - Delirium (Downward Spiral) 07:37

I owe it to Global Sect to review this piece. Least of my reasons being that I accidentally bought this album twice...Not a cheap album, but Tsotsi must have assumed he hadn't bought it and just panic purchased to listen to on the plane to Thailand. 

Another reason this review had to happen was because I just had to tell the world how much I loved some of the tracks on the compilation. The best of which I believe was Sykespico's, the arrangements, change of acts, power, melodies. The entire composition blew me away. followed closely by Javi and Skooma's utter chaos of a track. Holy shit, there is a very fine line between over doing it, and frivolously swaying on the edge of that canyon. Javi & Skooma just created brining the edge with them as they jump across that line. This song is absolute madness from start to finish and probably one of the biggest risks on the compilation. 

Psy-H went balls deep in Gaura Nitay. Although a little repetitive at times when the peaks of the track hit they are good. 

Atlantis comes out with some proper beauty. Following the theme of the album of floaty dreamy space trance, I could have had more of that mantra but at the same time it broke me out of my daze when she came in, I didn't realise how deep in the track I'd fallen.

Centevra Project do their job of introducing the theme of the album. Nothing amazing but the perfect opener to get us ready for more. They follow the theme of the album as they continue to pop up in other energised space acid tracks across the album...Obviously, they fit the composition perfectly (Maybe they even picked all the tracks  ).

Alienapa come in strong with 2 tracks. Are you mad being my favourite but only because I listened to 'night train' so many times when trying to figure out if I would pre-order the album or not and they new melody was appreciated. 

'Ascension' by Raving Universe does just that, Ascends me to planets far beyond the terraformed inhabited planets of this albums. The track takes it times but it definitely gets you there, space travel aint fast my friends.

Cosmic dimensions remix of Man With no Name's 'possessed' was the first track I listened to when I purchased this (The first purchase). Once again I haven't done my homework. I just finished Uni thats why Mom! So na, I aint heard the original, but the way people talk about MWNN I gotta assume he was special. I can imagine this back in the day, fucking amazing I'm sure. Well, Cosmic D has Done the old fliparoon on this one. Yes mam's and sir's he nailed it, by all rights I gotta assume he placed the old 'we are in space now trance dancer's' on top of it and I loved it. Awesomely produced and a great song all round. 

<---- Not true, there were no showers, this compilation is long

Lets make it shorter to get me into one though. 
The rest of the tracks, and the entire albums is the sort of compilation you can play at anytime to get that particular style of trance. I'm starting to associate Global Sect with it, although I know the style aint new. Play it on shuffle at any point when that you feel like travelling to outta space, when you wanna get away from this goddamn planet and go see some funkier terraformed ones. Where the people will go in the year 2632 living a life of dance on the planets around what is, in that part of the galaxy, known as the trance dancers cluster. The grooviest section of outer space. . . Pick your planet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thats it, thats the review. This is an 'Album' review not a 'Every song on the album' review. It's good my friends. Its not groundbreaking or challenging the genre, but it is cementing and defining it. A good compilation by all means. Listen in sections if you have too. But I promise, each song has its thing and stands apart from the others if you pay attention.  

Call it what you want, this is Goa, the greatest orchestrated arrangement of modern times and Global Sect have gone to a lot of work to collect these for us. Well done and thanks. To Javi, Skooma, & Sykespico. I potentially have another 79 years of life ahead of me, maybe more, would appreciate you continuing your crafts for the 50 years of that, that I'll be able to hear for. 

 

Ive taken the advice of Gfp1 and started blasting music on the newly acquired Bowers & Wilkins 600 series 3 stereo speakers and 2 subwoofers, on level 3 off an apartment. . . Fuck the neighbours . . . When they complain I'm telling them that 'someone on forum said I should'.

 https://globalsect.bandcamp.com/album/va-terraformer

 

[gfp1]

magnificently said review... made me want to dust it off and give it another spin

this album is almost too much to swallow in one go (that's what she said). it's just one atomic blast after another. the quality is so high that it can be difficult to wrap around it (that's what she also said.)

Global Sect is taking a smart approach with their 2018 lineup by focusing more on solo albums. it gives artists a bit more chance to vary the tempos and experiment. the new Median Project album is incredible...  

 

On 2/21/2018 at 7:32 PM, tsotsi said:

 

Ive taken the advice of Gfp1 and started blasting music on the newly acquired Bowers & Wilkins 600 series 3 stereo speakers and 2 subwoofers, on level 3 off an apartment. . . Fuck the neighbours . . . When they complain I'm telling them that 'someone on forum said I should'.

 https://globalsect.bandcamp.com/album/va-terraformer

 

if you can hear your neighbours complain, you're not listening loud enough. the idea is to listen at a volume that drowns out any doorbells, walls being banged on or angry voices. 

 

[recursion loop]

Gaura Nitay is incredible. Just love this track, every single second of it sounds perfect. This guy has made a lot of great music (it's hard for me to name a weak track by him) but Precession of the Universe and Gaura Nitay are arguably the best goa tracks ever made during the whole history of the genre (this sounds exagerrated a bit, doesn't it? but for me they are).  

 

I also love Night Train by Alienapia (what a climax!), Message to God by Zopmanika and every track contributed by Centavra Project (hope he will release an album any time soon). Median Project tracks are quite good as well. There must be also some other gems here but it's really hard to go through 34 tracks and remember everyhthing.

[Jaza]

Centavra is working on an album for Global Sect. Excited for that one.

 

[Tsotsi]

On 2/27/2018 at 9:24 AM, Jaza said:

Centavra is working on an album for Global Sect. Excited for that one.

 

Of course Global sect are releasing a Centevra album  
 

 

On 2/26/2018 at 8:35 PM, recursion loop said:

Gaura Nitay is incredible. Just love this track, every single second of it sounds perfect. This guy has made a lot of great music (it's hard for me to name a weak track by him) but Precession of the Universe and Gaura Nitay are arguably the best goa tracks ever made during the whole history of the genre (this sounds exagerrated a bit, doesn't it? but for me they are).  

Agreed on Precession of the Universe completely. I'm stuck between the Sonic Elysium remix and the original. But it's an absolutely incredible track

[winterelegy]

This comp is so goddamn good; Global Sect always deliver in terms of track selection and presentation (love their artwork...I also got one of the UV banners which is fucking beautiful). My favorite tracks here are Celestial Intelligence, Alienapia (Night Train), Psy-H (all of them), Mindsphere, Artifact303 (Contact), Median Project (Mad Space), Omnivox, and the downtempo Liquid Flow and Slow Reflections tracks are amaaaazing. It took me a while to get into it because of the sheer size, but once I did I had it on repeat for weeks. There is seriously only like 1 bad track, a few mediocre ones, and the vast majority are really good.

[winterelegy]

On 2/26/2018 at 4:35 AM, recursion loop said:

Gaura Nitay is incredible. Just love this track, every single second of it sounds perfect. This guy has made a lot of great music (it's hard for me to name a weak track by him) but Precession of the Universe and Gaura Nitay are arguably the best goa tracks ever made during the whole history of the genre (this sounds exagerrated a bit, doesn't it? but for me they are).  

I feel the same about his Crystal Worlds track! (that's another absolute banger of a comp from Global Sect)

[Aspartic]

When Terraformer was released I bought it without thinking. It's global sect, it has big goa names on it and the cover looks so sexy it's incredible.
Honesty pushes me to say that I never dived into this compilation. Was it a busy life, were it other albums released at that time that got more attention from me, was the track list too large? I don't know!
Fact is that I decided to relisten to some goa albums I never fully embraced.
So I uploaded Terraformer to my mp3 player, got into my bed and pushed the play button. Suddenly I was on a beautiful planet floating in deep space. Smiling!
Terraformer, where have you been all this time?!

Right off the bat, Centavra sets the standard with a warm floating rolling number. Beautiful pads makes me feel right in space. Oh and the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger/Quaid from Total Recall is just phenomenal! Release of oxygen for the whole planet!

Celestial Intelligence's track is ok, but it quite doesn't come up to speed. It just lingers on without any climaxes or surprises.

Alienapia is known for chaotic goa messy tracks. And I mean that in a good way. It's all goa swinging around your head and ears. This one is classic Alienapia. Fantastic. A dive into their world of sounds. Lots of sounds. Pure goa.

Strange Object by the now famous Centavra Project continues the quality goa story. Nothing to criticise here.

Psy-H project delivers a light and sunny track here. But beware, this is complex stuff once you dive into it.

Second Alienapia track here doesn't attain the level of superiority the first one had. Some weird stuff can't get my attention.

Young old geezer Mindsphere is on speed here. Without a doubt one of the best tracks of this very large compilation. Mindsphere created a track that progressively builds. In the beginning, you think "Mmm, yeah ok". While suddenly the track is already 6 minutes away and you think "Da fuck is this??". Suddenly you're in complete madness. Phenomenal track. Master at work.

Javi & Skooma fill the gap with an ok track. The track passed by me very fast. Can't say I was blown away.

Omnivox on the other hand kept my attention from start to finish. Extremely lush and trancy track that evokes emotion. Very well done. And very well needed amongst those other goa monsters.

Sykespico's track must be the black sheep or the weirdest thing on this comp. Love it or hate it. It's definitely "different" and funny at times with the classical arrangements, but let's say I don't love it. I'm sure their upcoming album will be great. It's a great project. Just not this track.

Magician Sergey Petrenko alias Median Project in the cockpit!! Yeah! You just know it's gonna be good. Have you checked his album on Suntrip? Classic already. Mad Space is yet one more goa Sergey pulls out of his sleeve. Top quality, top arrangement and top story telling. Maybe a bit dense at times, but it works!

Atlantis is a project I'm keeping my eye on very closely. Mister George from Greece has the skills to create warm and hypnotising tracks. Here he shoots acid and synth stabs it's ridiculous. Fingerlicking good!

Fiery Dawn's original track Searching For UFO's was in my cd player just a day ago. The guy does spit out a lot of music these days. But I couldn't help feeling hungry. His productions and track structures are just not up to par with the rest of the new gang. But he's working, that's for sure. Median Project remixes this track and immediately you get something different. Quality remix. Although the outer space signals remain a bit corky.

Scandinavian trance now! Clementz likes it hard. It's a mindfuck without pauses. Morphic Resonance style. So ... good!

Omneon - Indian Walk is that kind of track that you re-listen after all these years and you're ashamed you never praised it. It hits hard, bangs goa melodies and harsh sounds out of the speakers and leaves you numb on the floor. Unforgettable. A wall of sound.

Atlantis doesn't disappoint with A journey out of your mind. Maybe not his best, but hell, it stands out from the rest. He knows his game. Sounds just good.

Median project - third element is floating though space like the USS enterprise. Median = excellent fun.

Cianendeon by Skarma shoots me back to my "normal trance" years. Lush pads and euphoric melodies. Sweet. But this is fucking goa! Way better than any so-called trance nowadays. Go Skarma!

Fiery Dawn pushed back the throttle with his Vibrating universe. Well done, trancy, very laid back intermezzo. Nothing crazy. It's hard to be among other goa monsters.

Same for Zopmanika. While it's a maniacal track, I heard better things on Terraformer. Still ok though.

The majestic intro of Raving Universe's Ascension grabs you right by the balls. Add a fierce kick and this is a belter! Climax after climax this is crazy shit! So good. So freaking good. It's spinning in orbit around Saturn at ludicrous speed. :p

Gaura Nitay by Psy-H is unadulterated goa trance. Raw, aggressive, and without remorse.

Nothing beats a good Centavra track. Journey To Another World is lovely. Warm acid bubbles, smooth synths and a rolling bassline. What more do you want?? Climaxes? Check! Centavra's tracks excel in warmth and deepness. 9m19 minutes. Too short. :D

Buddy Atlantis is back with his last track Space Mantra on the comp. And he doesn't give in on quality. This is top notch production, a goa trance showcase. I feel an album arising!!

Acid style is in the house with Cosmic Dimensions remix of MWNN Possessed. Man, again this comp goes on like a train. No mercy. What an energising and electrifying track.

A nitzho kick drives the Mindsphere track forward. This is a galaxy of trance. Stars shine and nebulas unfold. Such a beautiful track. Some chord changes add more lightness to the track.

My hero Artifact303 is back with a crystal clear star shooting goa weapon. Gradually he adds layers and layers until a wealth of goa sounds hypnotises you. The man still got the touch.

The last part is a collection of downtempo tracks. I haven't dived into this as well as I have with the uptempo part. Psy-H Krishna or Maya makes me think of the good old New Beat rage in Belgium. Slow hard beats. But now with lots of psychedelica. Katedra is present with his known machine-like industrial sounds. So good. The other tracks are very good as well and the disc is a well compiled set of chill tracks.

Conclusion: Almost 5 (!!!) hours of the best goa trance there is right now. Should be an instant buy. Global Sect is on a roll.

 

[Tsotsi]

@Aspartic How is it that you and I have the exact same taste in Genre, like the exact same artists, but differ so much on the tracks we love?

For me, your review of the first Celestial Intelligence track could be the description for Centevra's first track. I thought the first Alienapa tracks was average but the second amazing. Javi & Skooma inspired my entire first review as did Sykespico. The Celestial intelligence track I think is one of his best ever. Although, everything else I agree completely with.

 

On another note i got pretty excited when I saw your full review, I've slowly (real slow) been writing the second track by track review that this compilation deserves glad someone has taken the weight of that off my shoulders.

[Aspartic]

@Tsotsi I know we are on the same level. Haha! Goh yeah, about those favorites. I think you like the real psychedelic tracks. But it's hard to define where these subtle differences in taste come from. That's the beauty of goa.