Man With No Name ‎– Moment Of Truth

If you ever have searched for a soul or a deeper heart in trance and techno music: Here it is, unawakend, pure and without any side effects reported.

Martin Freeland is the rare kind of guy who invites you not only to ride his electronic fury, he gives you an honest hug at the same time. His messages are "All is full of fluff", "Be not afraid in the dark, I'm with you" and "Where is the beast? I'll kill you, pigwang!".

Yep, this is no stuff for the real tough guys out there who think about coolness all day. Freeland does not fear the simple melody, the bigger emotion, the 4-to-the-floor thing. He burns down all the barriers between music genres within an arpeggio. Who cares about EBM, Club Techno, Dance Pop or Trance, if you get all of them together?

This is an album you can listen to whereever you want - it just works fine. The club tunes don't yank your chain at home and a title like "Floor-essence" defines the functional blueprint for itself. The version of "Sugar rush" invites you straight to the fast-lane on an never-ending motorway. On the other side, "Azymuth" introduces me to a sort of Psybient stuff that seems to be totally new when I heard it for the first time back in '97. And it works in a club environment, too - as I've spot a few months later.

A lot of people say "Dance music sounds all the same to me, cheesy and monotone". They're right most of the time maybe, but this one here is different.

Man with no Name is an artist who has it's very own signature in composing music. His song structures are assembled very clever, always with the thought of prolonging the climax. His kickdrum is a special one, hitting hard and melting soft. His melodies and sequences come from another world, so simple, pretty and unforgettable.

Believe me: No other Psytrance album has got the qualities of this one - and I've heard a lot of them through the years. Freeland never ever has been so fresh and intense as on this. His other work is still outstanding and unique, but that looks quite like another story to tell. Do I really recommend you his dozens of remixes which he'd produced during the nineties?

Here you go.

Firstly, in reference to the previous couple of reviewers - accessible trance doesn't always mean 'cheesy' or 'fluff'. Just because MWNN's music isn't as dark or trippy as the likes of Hallucinogen or Total Eclipse (both of whom I also love), doesn't mean that it cannot be enjoyed for the more 'feel-good' side of goa/psy-trance that it represents.
This album, and indeed MWNN's music in general, is something you can enjoy no matter what mood you're in. Give the guy a break. There's no rule saying that psytrance can't have chord changes.
Plus, 'Azymuth' is one of the best downtempo tracks I've heard, floating and lilting, it takes you on a journey from start to finish.
If it's a good slice of upbeat, uplifting, non-monotonous goa/psy you're looking for, this album will not steer you wrong.

In my humble opinion, Man With No Name suffers from the same disease as Astral Projection : it sounds just like bubblegum. Although I prefer MWNN to the latter, it still makes me wonder how can people not realize how chubby and childish the melodies and the rhythms are; I mean, can you really listen to the second track without wondering how on earth can we compose such a lame intro ? It reminds me of times when I used to compose with "Rave eJay" softwares, trying my best in creating the next trance masterpiece. They all sounded the same at the end : terrible intros with ultra-predictable development and inevitable 16/4 patterns with snare breaks at the 16th measure.

Although 'Moment of Truth' fortunately places itself way above these long forgotten disasters, it is still very predictable and ear-candy. No psychotropic violence nor hyperspace travel, just sweet rhythm and synth with its good moments (the full-on 'Low Commotion' outstanding the whole album). As for the remaining tracks, they're a bit stuck with highly melodic and all-audience friendly eurotrance textures that just didn't match my tastes.

Bought this album back in the 1997 and it instantly became one of my most played trance albums. There is something special about every track. The retro feeling in Sugar Rush, the hard hitting tribal sound of Subterfuge and the ever so epic Floor Essence. It's all there in one album. Essential!

This album is amazing. From you border to you start to fathom what is going on your are overwhelmingly welcome on this album. M.W.N.N. is all about giving you a good feeling on the journey he wants to take you. He does that in a very smooth and happy way and if you follow the rhythm M.W.N.N. will come on and now let you down.
I guess this would be catalogued as Psy and a heck of Goa ... alas early beatiful Goatrance, Psytrance .. whatever we'd call it. This album is from 1996 but easily has stood the test of time. In fact, when you hear it now this album reminds at least me what it was that got me onto Psytrance back then. Nothing else came close to this intensity and mad dance music. Very dark and creepy bass's on this album. Come up on you creepy but still they have that could-be-good thing about them. You just have to go with the flow and the reward is instant.
This album proofs why so many of us started loving trance back in 1996. The album is a milestone. Dance or die !

Smashing!

Another trip down memory lane with this truely amazing album from Man With No Name... Released back in 1995 this has stood the test of time, and just take a look at the tracklist... Tracks like Moment Of Truth, Evolution, Floor Essence [Dayglo] & Sugar Rush [Refined Mix] are just as hypnotizing now as they were back then... Magical! This album is still widely available, so I encourage everyone who hasn't got this to get it... It's very good! 9/10

This album was the first solo effort from DJ/producer Martin Freeland AKA Man With No Name.

MWNN came to prominence via his many remixes of trance and house tracks for labels such as Dragonfly, Platipus et al. However, apparently suffering from self doubt, he had to be encouraged by his friends (amongst them Paul Oakenfold) to go for it and release an album under his own moniker. And what an album it is :)

'Moment of Truth' is the quintessential psychedelic trance album of the 90's. The multilayered tactile sound in evidence on this disc essentially defined the post-rave trance scene. The influences are obvious - straight up Ecstasy-influenced trance/house with a hefty dollop of LSD-influenced Goa psychedelia.

(Sidebar: the tempo / feel of the album is carefully arranged, via the track order, to mimic a drug trip. The early tracks build to a plateau, there is a sustained high, a chill stage and a come down.)

The album isn't just a collection of dance floor bangin' tunes. It contains a mix of track styles, all with that distinctive MWNN sound. Listen to 'Low Commotion' for the trance version of a train leaving a station for a lengthy trip, or enjoy the euphoric chill of 'Skydiving'.

Some of these tracks will be familiar to regular clubbers of the era. In particular, the classic 'Floor-essence' became something of a dance floor anthem thanks to the MWNN association with Paul Oakenfold and his Perfecto label. 'Sugar Rush' was a popular fave too, and there is also a reworking of the early classic 'Sly-ed' :)

This album ranks up there with genre-defining output from acts such as Shpongle and Astral Projection.

Any real trance fan should have a copy of this album in her collection. The production is top notch, the multilayered tracks are lush, and the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Go on, try it, the first one is free...