Hiver & Hammer - Fusion 2006
Somatic Sense Recordings
Catalogue Number: Somatic018
Back in 2004, legendary German trance duo Hiver & Hammer released their first artist LP 'Substance'. After admiring nearly all of their previous works, I was somewhat disappointed by the album; it had some interesting themes and ideas but lacked that overall polished feel, with many of the tracks not living up to their full potential. Since then unfortunately, the pair have seemingly ceased working together and gone their seperate ways, but thanks to Somatic Sense, the track I personally considered to be the strongest on the album has finally gotten the proper release it deserves, along with a plethora of remixes.
The original mix, despite being labelled as 'Fusion 2006', is merely a re-issue of the original Substance version from 2004, and still sounds fresh to the day. It's a slightly more laidback and convential style of trance than many of H&H's harder, more aggressive remixes from the 2001-2003 era, but still functions well, with the right amount of energy and emotion to be considered an effective peaktime hit... perhaps favouring the more sublime end of the spectrum rather than being in-your-face euphoric. Certainly worthy of the 'modern classic' status if there ever was one.
The first of the new remixes comes from Anjuna favourite Super8 in two flavours, namely a vocal and a dub mix. Since the original had barely any vocals bar a small spoken sample in the breakdown, a new set of vox have been supplied for the occasion. They're pretty forgettable, and serve no real added purpose other than to vary up the first half of the track, which itself is also pretty uneventful and generic with nothing particularly interesting happening. This trend is followed into the break, as the strings are introduced in a typical Anjuna-style trance fashion, surrounded by sweeping effects bringing the track to a modest climax. The melody has been altered significantly, making it bearly recognisable and losing much of the effect the original had. The final result is rather uninspiring and forgettable, leaving what could be considered an average set-filler at best. Definitely the weakest of the the new remixes.
Carl B steps up next for the remix duties, and delivers a full-on guns-blazing no-holds-barred balls-to-the-wall uplifting trance monster, completely throwing subtlety to the wind. While i'm all for not beating about the bush when the occasion calls for it, and have been a fan of Carl's previous work (namely 'All Day' and his remix of 'Zonderland'), something seems to be lacking here. The thing which made 'Fusion' so special was the subtle warmth about it; the way it built gradually and didn't try and do what this remix does so blatently. And with everything here made to sound as massive and powerful as possible, it just doesn't seem to work... and that special feel is gone, leaving a fairly disposable hands-in-the-air trancer. It's still far more memorable than Super8's effort, but feels a bit of a rushed affair with little soul to it.
Ensuring all posts in the current field of popular trance subgenres are covered, Funabashi are called in to provide a more downtempo progressive-edged remix, to suit warmup DJs and Schulz soundalikes aplenty. The typical elements you'd expect with this style are all there; deep sidechained bassline, plinky delayed synths and sweeping pads/effects alike. The original melodic elements are used well, and translate nicely to the new style with alot more elegance and class than they did with Carl B's mix. Overall it's nothing that special, but nothing terrible either, and sounds rather pleasant in places... a credible effort.
Finally, we have the Sonicvibe remix, which belts out a killer growling bassline right from the opening booming kick, setting the bar for what turns out to be a driving techy monster of a remix. Despite being powerful and relentless throughout, it approaches things much more subtlely than the Carl B remix and works better as a result, however there's one problem... it just isn't Fusion! The melody here has been changed significantly; moreso than in Super8's remix, and you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a completely different track altogether. It's still an awesome track (especially when pitched up to proper peaktime tech-trance speed)... just as a remix, it's pretty weak and lazy, with barely any elements from the original.
All in all, the original shines above the lot, but the Sonicvibe mix is still well worth having for those banging 5am post-peaktime moments, and the Funabashi mix functions well as a warmup filler. Those who like their trance in-your-face and without subtlety may favour Carl B's... but the Super8 mix is pretty much one to avoid, the type of sound giving trance a bad name! A fairly decent release overall, however.
View comments here
Rating : 
Review by rj
|
