Mr. Ace Da Brain is back! We hereby present you with an exclusive review of the official follow-up single to Ace's Delight - Mental Theme and Pervading Call - Destiny. Does Ace do it again? Read on to find out everything about this new EP on Venom Recordings...
Tales Of Dusk And Dawn is the fourth release on the German label Venom Recordings. A few of the previous releases were the very well received 'Eriel' by Marc La Cruz and Ace Da Brain and the immense 'Mental Theme' by Ace's Delight which made it to the 18th spot in the ASOT 2003 Chart. All releases on Venom have been (co-)produced by Andreas Schmidt, and so is this one. It uses kind of the same formula as Mental Theme: a full uplifting A-side with a harder mix/track on the other side of the vinyl. Let's see!
A-side: Sunrise (Ace's Delight Mix)
As we can see, this mix has an Ace's Delight touch to it.. so as a listener you would expect it to be a fast, very melodic and rather emotional trancer.. and that's just exactly what it is. The track starts with an intro with a woody sounding sample and a dark sound at the background. A small synthie gets added, making room for something very soothing: a soft, very clear string playing a small portion of an emotional melody. A piano gets added to complete the sounds, and after a small descending sound we get to where the beat starts kicking in. A bit of a harsh and thomping kick is what drives the track onwards, accompanied by a very original and deep bassline. New crispy hi-hats and a clap get added, introducing us to a small repeating synthline that goes on until the break. The atmosphere of the track is great; everything flows in a very nice way, and the sounds and pads on the background just complete the whole structure... but there's more. As the track builds and builds, the piano from the intro gets pushed to the front, playing an amazing melody, which has the most inventive chord-changes and delivers an even bigger and better atmosphere during the build-up. The melody itself reminded me just a bit of the classic by Robert Miles, 'Children', but that's just something I noticed. The piano fades away just before the break, making place for a tension-building and strong synthline which guides us into the break. The piano returns very shortly, but disappears for a moment when a very soft but oh so beautiful string kicks in. The piano returns once again, playing a new melody on top of the aforementioned strings. And that melody is really something... Emotional chord-changes all over the place! This is what a piano should be used for in trance; not for simplistic melodies that fade away after a second or 20, but for a sophisticated set of tones, guided by inventive sounds. The piano fades away at around the 5 minute mark, a small silence appears, making place for a HUGE part of strings which play a part of the main melody. If this doesn't raise hands in a club, nothing does. After this, the main melody gets added. A fast and changing synthline, building and building, filters get loosened, until the melody bursts out into a full uplifting euphoria. The percs, bassline and accompanying sounds have been tweaked in a such a way that everything fits perfectly, ensuring the listener maximum pleasure. After the main climax the piano returns, playing the melody we heard during the break. The immense strings from the break returns as well, replacing the main melody, which creates kind of a second climax in the song. At around eight minutes, the build-off starts. All the elements are washed away by silence, resulting in a snare and a crash fading away into the background...
B-side: Sunset (Ace Da Brain Mix)
Remember the Marc La Cruz Mix for 'Eriel' and the Ace Da Brain's Hell On Earth Mix for 'Mental Theme'? Be prepared... This side of the vinyl commences with soft percussion sounds and no kick. After a 30-second build-up, a synth gets added which plays a very dark, atmospheric and spooky melody. A superbly harsh kick enters the track, thomping us into a tiny break consisting of a new repeating synth sound and some strings. I can hear you think eh-oh.. And wham, the main beat and bassline kick in. This must be one of the hardest combo's of kick and bassline I've ever heard in a hardtrancer! More percs get added on the way to the 2-minute mark, accompanied by a new synthline which plays a kind of repetitive, darkish line of tones. The track keeps on building and building until we reach the main break. This firstly consists of a few of the synthlines and a soft stringy sound on the background... A low-volume synth gets added, guided by a piano sound playing a rather simple melody. All this gets its speed by a bit of nice breakbeaty percussion, after which a new and once again darkish melody appears. The synth that is being used here firstly sounds very minimal, but gets built up to an energetic line of sounds as it goes on. The beats and b-line get added, creating a very spooky, but oh so hard and stomping ambiance during this part of the track. Imagine how this would sound on a huge soundsystem.. The main melody alters a but during the climax, being driven by more darkish pads and spooky sounds. After this the 1-minute build-off starts, taking us into silence once again.
Conclusion:
This is really something! The A-side can be compared with a mouthful of the most tasty chocolate you can ever imagine; the feel in this track is immense, the overall flavour is nothing less than sublime and the aftertaste is soothing, but yet very energetic. The harder track on side AA has a huge dark atmosphere and one of the biggest and harshest basslines ever heard in hardtrance. The melody is a bit repetitive, but very effective, which creates a fantastic tune nonetheless. All in all, both the tracks on this release on Venom Recordings must be two of the best things I've heard in a few months... I wouldn't give a 10 out of 10 easily, but this certainly deserves it. Go get this when it's released! Will be out in the beginning of May.
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