Guy Mearns gate-crashed the Hard Dance party at the turn of the noughties and pretty much stole the show at the time with productions way ahead of his years! A true breath of fresh air, adding much needed melodies back into the fold and uniquely bridging the gap between UK Hard and the more serious Hard Trance sounds coming from from Switzerland and Germany. Fast forward nearly two decades as Guyver drops his much-hyped Kick-Starter funded album, ‘Alien On Earth’, and I just had to delve in to see what direction he had taken with the project. Spanning two discs, a full mix CD and an added data CD packed full of Guyver back-cat, album singles for DJ use, remixes, mixes and cool extra thrills. I’m sure the 255 people who pledged a grand total of £11,727 have not been left disappointed. After a futuristic and tone setting intro, it’s straight into classic Guyver riff action as the mid-section of Hidden Kings (my favourite track on the album) thunders in, what follows is a very fun take on Hard Trance, with no laurel resting in sight and unique elements brought into play on each track, a perfect example of this is ‘Back to the Old School’, pure cheek as oldskool rave pianos meet hard trance arpeggios, endorsed with the cheesiest vocal that just works – you can’t help but love it. Ultimately, this is a fan pleasing album, which of course it had to be, but it’s so nice to see some obvious experimentation going on and added diversity. Overall a banging, polished set of 13 tracks that may not all appeal to his true faithful, but I’m sure he will be winning new fans in the process. Has to be a contender for Hard Dance album of the year surely!?
4/5
Reviewed by Nick Coles
