New to the harder side of trance?. Then heres a good starting point, Yoji Biomehanika offering us his blend of hard trance and hardstyle on this here doubled disked stompathon.

Disc 1

PSR Dream Team - History (DJ Spoke vs Vespa 62 Trance Mix)
Savon - Way To Heaven ( Mike Nero Remix )
Dave Holmes - Freedom (Lee Haslam Remix)
Orion's Voice - The Next Life
Derb - Revolution
E-Wok - Supersound (Freak Remix)
Technoboy - Tales From A Vinyl ( Chapter Two )
Derb - Underground
Max B. Grant - Tekknopumpin'
DJ Machine - I Wanna Rock
Oliver vs PDM - System ( PDM aka Pedro Del Mar Remix )
Score Age - Muzak (Hard Truck mix)
Fusion 808 - Take On Me ( Reeloop Remix )
Alex G & Fame - Put Your Handz
Champion Burns - Hell's Reign



Disc Two

Lithium - Blackout
Yoji Biomehanika - Never End (Hellhouse New Edit)
Arome - Hands Up (Yoji Biomehanika Remix)
Silicon Works - You Can Fly
Diablo & Klitzing - Control (Oliver Klitzing Remix)
John Starlight - Bloodangels (Tom Wax Mix)
Overdog - Fu*k U Up ( Club Mix )
High Voltage - Bombs Away
Piero Zeta & Manuel ES - Warfare ( Megaphone Remix )
Global Cee - Burnin'
Trance Generators - Wildstyle Generation (Yoji Biomehanika Remix)
Yoji Biomehanika - Hardstyle Disco
Dopeman - Hardbazz Powah!
Hardheadz - Wreck This Place
Megara vs Dj Lee - Hold Your Hands Up High
Dj Scot Project - Rock

Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar with this eccentric little japanese guy, Yoji Biomehanika has been and still is a very exciting name amongst the hard house generation. Famed for his fast paced energetic sets, Yoji pitches it down just a little for this double CD guide to the harder sound of trance and hard house. Armed with pounding beats and funky basslines, each and every track is guaranteed to put you through your paces, starting with the PSR Dreamteam, and Vespa 63 & DJ Spoke's Remix of 'History', an ideal opener with its frantic synths to let you know that this is not going to be a walk in the park.

Track number 2, Savon - Way To Heaven, with Mike Nero on the remix, continuing the hard trance tip with its nice beefy bassline and energetic quirky lead synth which makes this a great stepping stone for the hardness yet to come. The track slowly comes to a quiet end, but wait, no chance to catch a breather, in comes the driving bassline of Lee Haslam's Remix of Dave Holmes - Freedom, this is hard trance on its slightly more euphoric side, lovely lengthy build up making you wait just that little bit longer for the spine tingling synth driven by the exciting bassline.

'The End Of The Earth Is Upon Us', or so this slightly harder edged stomper named Orion's Voice - The Next Life, would lead you to believe. Beautiful, peaceful breakdown, but wait, synth begins to distort and gain volume and before you know it you are faced by a rather eerie riff with nice stompy beats and a slightly funky low bassline. This is the last stop in 'Tranceville' as up next is the rather fun hardstyle Derb - Revolution. Derb are well known for theyre interchanging drums in theyre tracks, also for theyre bassline which is guaranteed to get you jumping around like a four year old throwing a tantrum.

Famous for the hard house ultra classic a few years ago, Ewok returns with a great mix of theyre tune 'supersound', you literally cant help but love this track due to its superb lead riff, thunderous drums, and the classic hard house bassline. Back on the hardstyle tip, technoboy - tales from a vinyl. The domintaing kicks alongside the screeching hardstyle sounds causing madness on any dancefloor.
Strictly for the fun factor, Derb - underground, yes you guessed it correctly, vocals inspired by the beach boys right before hard kicks and rough effects courtesy of Max B. Grant with 'Tekknopumpin'. Frantic/madness/chaos are 3 words that spring to mind when hearing this, a track a little more for the more discerning hard music lover. 'Whats that?.. you wanna go harder?, well here ya go', small interlude of DJ Machine - I Wanna Rock, featuring sum of the nicest beefiest kicks around.

The monster track Oliver vs. PDM - System (PDM Mix) up next, hard trance really dosnt get much better than this, a little lighter than the previous 3 or 4 tracks but paving a good way for the following track, which is Score Age - Muzak (Hard Truck Mix). Good 'run of the mill' hard trance, keeping it on a nice level and pace and never letting up any. No time to relax before oliver klitzings remix of a rather bizarre up to date version of 'take on me' by Fusion 808. This track has an odd feel to it, and is sort of ironic due to the very low thumping kicks alongside a rather camp lead riff. A good transition from this slightly 'euro-esque' track into the the very fun sounding Alex G & Fame - Put Your Handz. To me this sounds like a modernised version of classic hard house of about 2 or 3 years ago. Quite a difference in styles between this and the last track, but keeping the vibe going strong never the less. More of the same to polish the first CD off with, Champion Burns - Hell's Reign, puts a nice finish to the end of CD 1 with a more relaxed approach to hard house, wrapping up the first installment of hard dance madness.


CD 2, the better of the 2 CD's in my opinion, less messing about, definately for the more discerning raver. More on the driving hardstyle tip, CD 2 kicks off with Lithium - Blackout, fairly laid back as far as hardstyle goes, but a good warm up for the following 15 tracks. Yoji's very own production 'Never End' with the new peaceful techno 'Hellhouse Mix', a very nice new remix of an already great track. But dont get used to it, because up next is Yoji's Punishing new remix of Arome - Hands Up. Yoji did a great job of remixing this already amazing track, what seemedly would have been a hard task to better, was most certainly equalled if not topped but in a completely different light. I was astonished when i heard mind bending vocal distortions, this track is set to do damage in the very near future, although i feel this was played a little too early in this CD.

Going a bit deeper now, with Silicon Works - You Can Fly, i was by no means suprised when i discovered that Silicon Works is the handy work of Mr Oliver Klitzing, always 100% quality everytime, and no sooner is one klitzing track finished, than another one started, up next Diablo & Klitzing - Control (Oliver Klitzing Mix), this is techno Klitzing style, trademark dirty low synths and bassline, throwing this CD into a mental pumping techno frenzy. As if this wasnt enough, Tom Wax's mix of John Starlight - Bloodangels, sends this set completely bonkers, with pure zany pumping techno madness, awesome build ups and ooooooh that bassline!

A rather interesting transmission into DJ Overdog - Fuck U Up (Club Mix) with its overpowering drums and crazy snares keep this second CD building and building into a very nice hard edged overload. And now breathe out, the melodic break is one of the very few chances to relax during this 70 minute stompathon. The energy levels remain constant throughout the whole CD as High Voltage - Bombs Away proves, the VU meters go off the scale as the rough driving kicks beat you into submission. Incase you hadn't guessed it, its hardstyle time again, and love them or hate them, the continual 'ACIIEEEEEEED' vocals provide a great atmosphere taking this journey of hard beats onto the next step.

Staying with the hardstyle, Yoji's high standard mixing brings us Piero Zeta & Manuel Es - Warfare, with Megaphone on the remix. The tweaking vocals along with the raw hardstyle-esque sounds make this a hi-octane bridge into the great hard, hard trancer, Global Cee - Burnin'. You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a hardstyle track, but the dark echoes in the background will confirm that this is hard trance at its best, slightly on the euphoric side and its long 'hands in the air' build up, create good atmosphere and brings a sense of longing to the set, showing that Yoji can succeed working a crowd/set in more ways than one. Yoji's magnificent remix of Trance Generators - Wildstyle Generation, is unquestionably one of the most energetic tracks on this CD, its everything you could possibly want from a harder hard trance track or set. This should have been dropped nearer the end of the CD as it is quite different from the previous track. I feel our next track, which is Mr. Biomehanika's very own track should have been plyed after Global Cee, as it drops the set down a level, but never the less it still manages to rock the most avid harder listeners with its cheeky rolling bassline.

Reverting back to the hardstyle once again and keeping it a little fun too, is Dopeman - Hardbazz Powah! The focal point being the uber-fun vocals and the uber-serious hardstyle tweeking and screeching. Spot on mixing and Hardheadz - Wreck This Place, keep the flow coming briefly before quick mixing into Megara & DJ Lee - Hold Your Hands Up, and as the title states this is a serious 'hands up' tune. Euphoria overload and a neat build up leaves you begging for the beat, and no disappointments, the driving low bassline is just what the doctor ordered as this second CD draw's closely to an end. Polishing the CD off with a questionable ending is DJ Scot Project - R (Rock). After many listens I am still clueless to as to how to label this, besides the unmistakable hard euphoric trance lead, you cant help but notice the balearic vibe, which questions is there a new genre in the pipe-line?... hard balearic?. Back again with another 'hands in the air' track to bring this hardstyle/hard trance 2 disker to a satisfying close, in Scot Project Stylee.

Conclusion:
So there we have it, for those unfamiliar with the harder side of dance/trance music, this is a great CD to acquint yourselves with. My only gripes are the order that some of the tracks were played in, both CD's built up and built up, but then dropped back a pace on a few ocaissions, but dont let this dishearten you as the tune selection is rather exciting.
As a hardstyler myself, I found this to be of a good standard, and a must for hard edged newbies.