Paul Moelands brings us his first full artist album, packed with all of his most succesful singles, interesting collaborations with the likes of Menno de Jong, Thomas Bronzwaer and Kimito Lopez, plus a host of other brand new productions. A full review can be found right here.

Paul kickstarted his Re:Locate guise back in 2003 with the massive 'Waterfall', a hugely energetic track which got plays from all the usual suspects. Heading into 2006, a lot has happened: numerous productions followed, as well as remixes for the likes of Alex M.O.R.P.H., A Force and Blank & Jones.
The album reviewed here ships in quite the nice package. It comes together with a blue coloured vinyl of the first single to be released from it called 'Rogue', backed with a collab with Jonas Steur called 'Sobre Saliente'. The sleeve contains space for two more sampler vinyls, which will be released soon to complete the package.

Tracklist:

1. Rogue
2. Sobre Saliente (featuring Jonas Steur)
3. Escape (featuring Susana)
4. Placebo (featuring Kimito Lopez)
5. Absoluum (Album Edit)
6. Alcatraz (featuring MIDOR)
7. Dewdrops of Sunlight
8. Spirit (featuring Menno de Jong)
9. Waterfall (Album Edit)
10. Samburu
11. Remorse (Album Edit)
12. Silver Morning Sun (featuring Rebekka)
13. Typhoon (Album Edit)
14. Jetstream (featuring Thomas Bronzwaer)

Rogue starts off this album with a bang. It's Re:Locate's most recent single, receiving support from just about everyone. And that's not without a reason! This is a quality track from start to end, encompassing a slightly harsh, trancy feel with its slightly mysterious atmosphere, combined with a superbly effective main melody that sits in your head for ages and builds itself out to monstruous proportions. A killer track which has proven to be a definite floorfiller already!
Another vastly rising producer in today's trance scene is our beloved Belgian Jonas Steur, who sat together in the studio with Paul to create Sobre Saliente. Right from the start, Steur's influences are imminent: his typical bongo-loaded percs are flowing nicely, with rapid melo's backing everything up to create that typical drive we hear in more of his productions. This is a totally smooth track: a nicely polished main lil' riff plays along very gently during the breakdown, to be boosted up a while later by a wagonload of energetic synth to complete the picture. The overall result is a highly melodic production that blends Paul and Jonas' sounds seamlessly.

Up next is a vocal track which features the voice of Susana, who is also responsible for the vocals of Armin's 'Shivers' and the megahit 'Darkside of the Moon' by Ernesto vs. Bastian. Escape is less driving than the two preceding tunes, and takes on a somewhat more laidback approach. It mixes a wobbly bassline with some very pure sounding trancy synths, playing delicate and above all very calm melodies. The vocals fit in quite nicely, though they don't really leave a huge impression on me. The feel of the tune changes quite drastically during the break: a set of raw, stabbing synth chords takes over the lead here, enabling 'Escape' to become a bit of a dancefloor tune along the way as well. Not a bad track at all, but certainly not the best on this album.

Kimito Lopez, another Intuition Recordings resident, is the co-producer of Placebo. Being a fast trancer with a very groovy bassline, this one leaves behind a very positive first impression with its shiny melodies during the build. While the positivity remains apparent throughout the rest of the tune, the rest of it did not really grab me. The main good thing about it is that funky bassline, but melody-wise 'Placebo' is a bit of a let-down. The overall production is good, but it just lacks an X-factor. Absoluum, on the other hand, is a really powerful production. Released last year, this still is an above par tune with its thick as hell main melody and great climax potential.

The next collaboration called Alcatraz has been made together with Rutger van Bostelen aka M.I.D.O.R. Trendy, totally driving arrays of percussion plus a speedy b-line set the right feel right from the start, energized by wicked soundFX and an overall immense drive. The main melody kind of typifies the Re:Locate sound: it's a catchy, bright melody which intensifies to great extent, inducing a very nice drop to be created after the break. Seems like Paul has been doing the melodic work here, while Rutger took care of the drums. All in all a very nice blend of their styles, classy!
Dewdrops of Sunlight is a track sporting a deeper approach. It features some truly delicate melodic lines, filled with sunny rhythms and sounds that really engender a cool, chilled vibe. Bassy interludes are present every now and then, making this quite the wonderful intermezzo in between all the stomping trance tunes.

Menno de Jong is up next for a co-production on 'Rogue'. Spirit is a corker of a trance tune! Soulful piano interludes and a truly powerful main melody are the leading ingredients here, with the breakdown being equally great with its silky, lovely rhythms that build out to become an astonishingly devastating bastard of a riff. This is elevating trance in its maximum form, stirring up powerful beats with some greatly worked out melodies. One of the highlights of the album for sure!
As said, Waterfall is the tune that rocketed Re:Locate's fame to great heights. The amount of drive and energy that this tune inhibits is completely beyond words. The mega-effective main lead has the power of a battalion of army tanks, which is a thing that was proven back when it was released numerous times on loads of floors around the world. Classic trance!

Samburu goes in a slightly different direction. It maintains a lot of agility, but does this using its tribal percussion which might remind you a bit of productions by Mojado and Cave. It's quite the vengeful tune with its blazing basslines and rough percs, stampeding through the speakers without any hint of peace. Small hints of melody are being given every here and there, with repeating carnivalesque vox doing their thing to power up the tribal feel even more. One of the great things about this tune is that it incorporates a full trancy lead as well, which in some way fits in with the rest like a charm. Paul really shows his versatility as a producer here, creating a massive tribal tech-trance monster with some highly melodic influences.
Another earlier single that is included is Remorse. It relies less heavily on big anthemic melodies, but instead does its thing by constantly letting a bassy melody evolve throughout its build and break. The riff is of the badass type: it's coarse and rude and brings about an almost mad feeling, retaining a lot of velocity along its way.

Vocalist Rebekka showcases her voice in Silver Morning Sun. We're being treated with a slighly less straightforward trancer here, filled with a deep, glooming bassline, sharp beats and of course the vocals. If you listen really carefully, you'll hear some Solid Globe-ish sounds at the background, but that might just be coincidence. The vox are of the 'quite okay' type, but aren't really memorable, so to speak. A deep, industrial riff takes care of the energy during the climax, but for the rest this isn't more than a filler tune to me.

Typhoon was the official follow-up to 'Waterfall' back in 2004. It goes on in a bit of the same tradition, incorporating a nicely banging, elevating melody and a good bit of dancefloor potential. Check out our review section for full text on this tune!
The last tune on the disc is a collab with Thomas Bronzwaer, who also produces under his well-known Arizona guise. Jetstream is another massively elevating trancer, filled with crunchy basslines, nice round percussional elements and some very clear Bronzwaer influences. The main riff isn't really a stand-out, but does know how to keep you entertained by building up and down like a madman. Not the best collab on the album but still a rather nice tune.

Conclusion:
The 'Rogue' album has become quite the succes! It perfectly shows Paul's evolving style over the years. From the new productions, my picks are definitely 'Spirit', 'Samburu', 'Alcatraz' and 'Rogue'. All in all a neat album which is a more than welcome present with the Rogue vinyl. If you don't have it yet, you better be fast 'cause only 1000 copies have been pressed. Else, just get yourself the legal downloads.