Trance Nation is a label that the Ministry have used to brand their compilations for a good 15 years or so now, but they deserve a lot of credit for finding ways of keeping the style as relevant and up to date as it ever has been. Cosmic Gate deliver a storming pair of mixes here, not necessarily big on the riffs but including some excellent and meaningful vocal tracks to go with the driving rhythms. Nic Chagall & Duderstadt and Cosmic Gate themselves characterise the lean sound of the first mix, which has absolutely no padding and leads forward to punchy instrumentals from LTN and Abstract Vision & Elite Electronic. CD2 powers forward impressively too, and here the big room is a more obvious target when the Nash & Pepper remix of Tiësto’s ‘Flight 643’ and the Nitrous Oxide mix of Above & Beyond’s ‘Formula Rossa’ come calling. There’s real strength in depth here – something you could also say for trance music in general.
5 out of 5
Reviewed By Ben Hogwood
