Good solid trance.

I will start off by saying I am not an expert on trance music. I own some eleven or so CDs in the genre, but I am not familiar with all the lingo or the subgenres. The cover of this CD informs us that it is in the subgenre known as "hard trance," which, to the best of my knowledge, means that it has a steady beat around 120bpm and is very much beat-driven, but is more layered and complex than drum 'n bass. DJ Brian, who mixed this compilation, is one of the better-known Moontribe DJs. Moontribe are well-known in the Southern California trance scene for holding dance parties out in the desert every full moon, as well as on other special occasions.

All in all, this CD is a good representative of the trance genre. The music keeps moving throughout, and since it is beatmixed, there are no awkward breaks between tracks. DJ Brian's beatmixing is excellent, and if you aren't paying attention, you will never notice when the tracks begin and end. He has selected tracks where rhythm dominates and the listener is not distracted by cheesy 80s-esque synth riffs and vocals, but where there is enough melody and layers of different sounds that the listener is not bored by stark beats with no embellishments whatsoever.

The music goes continuously with hardly any breaks all the way until the eighth of the fifteen tracks, "Zyklon" by Cores vs. Robyn. During this song, the beat stops entirely and the music hangs as if suspended in midair as the beat slowly builds again to its previous pace. This is definitely one of the better tracks on the CD, and smack in the middle is the perfect place for it.

However, breaks and buildups like this are in somewhat short supply on this CD. Part of what keeps trance music from getting boring is that the artists know when to pause or slow down the driving beat and build it back up again, and how to build the tension of the music until it is almost unbearable and then release it. Sound Without Walls, a CD featuring all the Moontribe DJs, features many excellent examples of this technique. However, there is not enough of it here to make the music as compelling as it could be. The first half of the CD has a few small buildups, but they are not on the scale to make you sit up and pay attention - in my admittedly eccentric case, they are not enough for me to make ridiculous hand-gestures to the music while I am driving. The second half of the CD is better than the first in this department, with Quartz's "Synergie" and Contact's "Signs of Life" being standouts.

Trance music is, of course, made for dancing. And this CD serves that task quite well. The music is enjoyable and it is easy to lose oneself in the rhythm. The rhythms are complex without lapsing into breakbeat or anything that would be difficult to tap your foot to. But while there is a nice variety of styles here, there is a sameness to it that makes the CD rather boring if you actually try to pay attention to the music. Trance music often lacks complexity on purpose, to make sure that everyone keeps dancing and doesn't get thrown off by fancy musical footwork, but it is possible to make music that everyone can dance to without the energy being so flat. I think DJ Brian could have included a few more tracks that throw a monkey-wrench into the mix.

This CD is good for driving, and for keeping one's energy going when it threatens to flag. It is a good introduction to trance music for the novice, as well. I don't listen to this CD as much as a few others that I have, where the music seems to build energy and invoke the trancelike state the genre is named for a bit better. I can't fault the mixing; I just wish the music was a bit more interesting.