Irritant - D-Drum

This week’s most anticipated release.... and with the global buildup they’re sort of the Tyson – Lewis of psychedelic trance. X-Dream are back and here to further develop the style that turned the whole scene on it’s head in 98.First up, the title track takes a minute to tease with your head before crashing in to remind you what these guys are all about – chuggy 16th basslines, tight interwoven production, and delectable high-ends warped together to make trance with a furious outdoor vibe. Rewind uses an ethereal semimelody that you can’t quite tell if it’s really there or not, and No Process takes feedback noises and the biggest kick ever(TM) to create a howling at the moon stomper. Here on though, it’s almost like things peak here, and the rest of the album never quite manages to reach the high of these three tunes run together. Thorazin & Universal Chaos fuse X-Dream’s evident techno upbringing with the energy of the biggest psychedelic rig, and Peter’s Hoover sounds like you just walked into the wrong Berlin nightclub. Old Blue Room single Intercorporal Stimulator still does the business with its wobbly bassline and somewhere-in-time pads and the fluid, uncertain-BPM’ed meanderings of All Rights Reserved bring things to a conclusion. Ultimately of course, they’re a one-trick-pony, but the power and energy they can’t help putting deep within the chemistry of their tracks is impressive and addictive.