The highly anticipated second artist album by one of Holland's most respected DJ's is here! This CD incorporates the complete spectrum of the contemporary V-sound, brought to us in thirteen mostly brand new tracks. Head in for a comprehensive review.

Marco's first album called Con:Fusion was released back in 2002, and included one CD with a lot of dancefloor approved tracks plus a bonus DJ mix on the second disc. This time around, they made disc number two a DVD filled with video clips, party footage and an mp3 of Marco V's Sensation set.
Con:Fusion was bombarded one of the albums of the year three years ago mainly because of the amazing amount of seriously banging tracks using that true V-sound, enabling most of the tracks to be categorized under one style. '200V' does things a little different by combining and blending several styles to show Marco's ever developing productional capabilities.

I'll start off with reviewing the tracks on disc 1, then to tell you a bit about the contents of the DVD.

CD

'False Light' serves as a fine opening track by starting off with a subtle intro using a set of slightly distorted male vocals. Just as you start thinking that this will be a rather relaxed track, you'll be surprised by a brutal and raw but excellent bassline kicking in suddenly. A vastly banging percussion led by a bunch of crispy drum sounds guide you through a very rapid build, retaining a wagonload of drive on its way to the first main breakdown. Here, the vocals return, but this time in their full form. They're nice and relaxing and incorporate some neat lyrics, but the real fun starts when a stabbing, industrial sound starts playing this infectious set of chords. The monstruous bassline hits in again in an utterly fierce way, making this track a seriously devastating experience.
Marco's most recent single called 'Second Bite' is up next, being a more housey and poppy affair using a wicked vocal base. A deep and constantly moving bassline lies under a good bit of percussion, led on by several simple melodies that accompany the ever going vocals. This is one of the main examples showing that mister V and his partner Benjamin Bates perfectly know how to combine a more relaxed approach to a track with the original, eighties-reminding vocals.
Time for a change in style! 'New Dawn' commences using a distorted lil' synthie, which is being washed away harshly by throwing in a very phat array of electro-ish sounding basses, carried on by breakbeats. Constantly enhancing the tune with odd FX and the catchy bassline, we eventually get to a relaxed strings part to bring in a little bit of contrast. With the basses returning, you'll feel that this isn't meant to be something to move your feet on, but more to just sit back and listen to. Some good synthwork improves the overall atmosphere greatly, resulting in a classy broken beats approach.
Up next is 'No place for silence', a track that made me think of a few of Benjamin Bates' tracks a bit. The whole production again relies heavily on some vocals, but this time there's not that much variation in there. A deep, rock-guitar alike bassline takes up the lower layers of the tracks foundation, slowly building out the whole structure to get to a short breakdown. Here, you'll hear that this is ment to be a V track because of the bubbly main melody that's being thrown into your face. It works quite well with the rest of the tracks embodiment, but the vocals just tend to get a little bit too much at times.
All right, time for a track that virtually no one will be able to stand still on I guess! 'Calling the Shots' uses this kind of slow percussion, but the main and amazing thing here is that odd but so well working bassy kind of thing that's playing right on top of everything. It makes everything sound very sturdy and utterly danceable, making every drop-in of the beat a climax on its own. A bunch of well worked out, again somewhat industrial sounding FX bring in a lot of tension in a few of the tracks breakdowns, enabling them feet on the dancefloor to be tickled to start moving even faster. Quality!
The first single that was released right from this album was 'More Than A Life Away'. As most of you will know by now, it's a track which is built around spoken, electro-ish vocals talking about a lot of aspects of this certain Saturday. Rigid beats and a stabbing dark synth take care of a good amount of drive to be injected here, resulting in a more than fine tune.
Three colors unite to bring us what might be one of the best tracks on the album. 'Red Blue Purple' is the tune that Marco has used for quite a while now to open and close off a lot of his recent sets, and you'll immediately understand why when you hear this for the first time. At first, nothing really exciting is happening because all we hear is some simple drum patterns. But then at all of a sudden, everything comes to a halt and makes place for a true hands in the air moment with some melodramatic strings and cool high synths. A whooshy effect takes care of a bit of a build effect, then for the track to literally burst out of its own structure by bringing in a superb amount of square basses and immensely sweeping distorted tasty synths. One of the most blasting tracks I've heard in a while, fantastic!
To cool things down a bit, we now get treated with 'Stronger Now', a track with a vocal base that works well in just about any situation. The overall sound of this one is warm and coasy, mainly because of the wobbly sets of basses and the relaxed use of beats. Again, this is more of a listening track, keeping the variety on the album on the maximum level until now.
Movie theme time! The intro of 'Toys for Humanoids' could very well be used in a good mysterious movie. Just like in New Dawn, breakbeats is the main style that's being brought forward here. Some mean bass sounds create a very dark and almost spooky vibe, enhanced by inventive breakdowns using lots of cool effects. This is definitely dancefloor worthy as well by the way because of the harsh kick-ins of the beat patterns.
Last year's Mysteryland theme has been included as well. 'Automanual' is a faster and again very well worked out track using a load of original 'computergame' effects, constantly driving basslines and a sound in the melody you won't forget in a while. It's more in Marco's more subtle style, but it works out superbly by using the well-fed percs, good chords and an array of V-invention.
'A Great Escape' is a production that Marco has been spinning for a long, long time now, but he never released it because it needed some tweaking. This has finally been accomplished now, resulting in a magnificent corker of a tune! Some good ol' harsh true V beats take care of a big amount of agility that's being torpeded right out of the speakers, enhanced by eerie melodies and a good amount of low tones. The definite highlight moment commences when the bell-like main lead kicks in. It's not complicated, but the combination of the right sound and an utterly well working melody just make this an awesome experience!
The housy 'Terminal 18!!' has been chosen to finish off the 'official' part of the album. Implementing a somewhat slower approach to everything, it leads itself onwards by using a short but crafty bassline and some percussion you only get to hear in quality house tracks. The melodic part consists of a repeating 5-note melody, which is generating multiple wicked climaxes along its way. Again a change in style which certainly worked out!
As a bonus, the full version of 'c:del.*mp3' has been put at the far end of this CD. Released back in 2003, it created damage all around the globe because of the fact that it's just constantly building and building using phat fast synthwork and accompanying beats. The 4/4 pattern returns every once in a while to get them feet moving again, but the immense power that this track brings about still relies heavily on it's super-inventive structure. A tune that won't be forgotten in a long time!

DVD

The DVD comes with two main features: footage of some of Marco's highlight parties from last year, as well as six full clips of the accompanying tunes on the album. Here's a list:

Party footage: 200V "The Journey"
Egypt
Sensation 2005
Global Gathering
Amnesia
Closing Weekend
Russia (St. Petersburg)
In Charge Outdoor
In Charge (Trance Energy)

Both the Amnesia and Egypt clips have some footage of the party coming with them, but they also show a lot of the scenery of the country Marco is visiting. Sensation '05 shows you the intro of Marco's set with his Energy 52 Remix, Global Gathering is all about that huge festival held this summer. The Amnesia clip shows some cool footage from one of V's gigs there, but the best video is the Closing Weekend one in my opinion. It first has Marco playing on Mysteryland '05, then the day after on the Dance Tour, after which he catches a private jet to Belfast an hour later to finish off his weekend there. Very nice to see! The short Russia video shows a few mad Russians doing crazy moves on Marco's beats, and the In Charge ones show some crazy footage from the corresponding gigs.

Videoclips
False Light
Second Bite
More Than A Life Away
Red Blue Purple
Automanual
Toys For Humanoids

'False Light' its clip has Marco's head spinning around, warping out a lot of colourful effects. The pace in this one is very high by the way, so I advise you not to check this one out when you have a headache! The vocals from the break are being projected on-screen as well, which is also the case in the video for More Than A Life Away. Marco also projected a few of these visuals on-screen during the 200V Party in The Matrixx, which was to great effect!
Second Bite's clip is something special. It has this guy going to a huge ship which seems to be carrying a supply of unbelievably hot girls (and a bunny). He's searching for a girl on a picture, but ultimately he can't seem to find her. Odd to say the least! Now for something very cool: the whole production of the Red Blue Purple video was done by Marco and Benjamin themselves! It has Marco walking around in a field, finding a few boxes that match the colours of the track's title.
The vid for 'Automanual' takes place on the mainstage of Mysteryland 2004, perfectly showing what kind of party it was. The tune itself fits the images neatly because of the fast changes in picture and color. And to finish things off, a pretty girl and some cool visuals are the main ingredients in the vid for the breakbeaty movie theme 'Toys For Humanoids'.

By the way, the DVD also includes an mp3 of Marco's Sensation 2005 set.

Conclusion:
We've got ourselves a true piece of art here! First of all, the artwork looks very classy. The CD has a load of amazing tunes on there, with my favorites being False Light, Calling The Shots, Red Blue Purple and A Great Escape. The other tunes once again show Marco's versatility as a producer. The DVD serves as the perfect addition to the CD with some cool accompanying footage and ofcourse the well produced video clips.
A must-buy!