Having consolidated their illustrious past with the Clasics series, Belgium’s R&S now get down to the serious business of what they’ve always done: looking to shake up the future. Who better than to uncork the most devastating electronic battle-weapons around than Matt Edwards, whose Radio Slave project has raged unabated for the past few years into guaranteed mass destruction? The label couldn’t have wished for a better bugle call to signal its return to the fray with this fearsome double-header which ranks among the best he’s done. Both tracks are epic in length betraying his favoured technique of setting up a groove of the merciless variety then letting it build relentlessly while all manner of mayhem unfolds on top: a kind of updated variation on DJ Pierre’s Wild Pitch onslaughts. ‘Eyes Wide Open’ stomps in with a kind of Bo Diddleyesque scratch-effect, letting the drums clear the men from the boys before a veritable hippo’s scrotum of a behemoth bassline weighs in to be joined by sinister vocals and efx. An awesome juggernaut of a track. ‘Incognito’ also favours the set-’em-and-let-’em-go strategy , building with classic stabs, a simple ‘alright’ and all manner of escalating sonic terror. Again, huge and mesmerising. The pair are made more effective by an undercurrent of deep techno soul. R&S’s return not only kicks down the door but reduces it to matchwood.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
