Cosmosis – Synergy

I know that this will be heresy for many of you out there, and doubtless not great reading for Bill Halsey himself, but I prefer him collaborating with Jeremy van Kampen to him on his own. I regard this record as considerably less good than the previous masterpiece "Cosmology", on which he collaborated with van Kampen (aka Laughing Buddha). I'm not saying this record is not good, but it just doesn't have the same feeling of bliss. What it does give you is an "in-yer-face" attitude which is "fun", "up for it" and dancefloor orientated. Bilbo's sound arrangements are much more in your face, pumping and cheeky than on the previous album. He loves ripping leads, pounding kicks and sick samples (which are sometimes delightfully silly, sometimes just silly). In other words, he swaps out the "spiritual" for the sake of dancefloor fun and mayhem. To be honest, I don't think I would have noticed this so much if it weren't for the less than fully flattering comparison with "Cosmology". This is not to say that post-Laughing Buddha Cosmosis is no good, but it has a different, and less compelling, vibe to me. "Synergy" is also less consistent. I like "Moonshine" and "Spores from Space", but some of the other tracks are ruined by irritating samples for me. So, in conclusion, it is not that I want my Goa to have only one feeling (I like it that there is light fluffy trance, dark horror trance, and so on). This album, however, is a bit monodimensional in its feeling and not in the league of "Cosmology" in my opinion. ~*~

This is by far the best pumping acid trance CD I have ever heard! Still sounds fresh as a daisy after 20 years!
This has electric guitar riffs acid synths / It is very well produced and worth picking up. Buy on site! 5/5 *****

Spores from Space is utter perfection from beginning to end. Moonshine has its moments. The rest of the CD did not move me.

The first 5 tracks of this album are all absurdly good and any one of them can serve as the track to send a crowd over the top. I have a soft spot for Spores from Space, which is filled with absolutely ripping acid lines. I think the tracks at the tail end of the album fall off a bit but to be fair it's an awfully high bar.

First 4 albums are a must have the rest is in my opinion a disappointment.

Solid addition to any psytrance collection, Transient does not disappoint.

I wonder what medication Bilbo Bagginz was prescribed when he wrote Intergalactic Fluoro Funkster and Spores From Space (co-written with Jim Cheese), but I wanna have the same doc! I've heard a lot Cosmosis material in the past, but nothing as psychedelic as this. Holy fuck! The arrangement is just amazing. Psychedelic, fascinating, and trippy with layers added from beginning to end. Honestly, I never expected Bilbo to have the balls to write such tracks, but I stand pleasantly corrected :o)!

These two highlights aside a number of other nice psychedelic tracks loom around here. Opening track The Ultimate Sin is quite pleasant, though I dislike the Sample (is it another Tim Leary sample on a Cosmosis album?), and Higher Access also climbs a step or two up my psychedelic ladder of success. Nothing comes close to the psychic mayheem on track 2 and 3, however. Get them and prepare to be dazzled.

And a note of observation. At the end of the album there's a hidden track after a couple of minutes of silence. This consists of some guys talking about how to change the pitch and speed of the music while Hardfloor's amazing "Acperience" is playing in the background. In the words of one Butthead: "Ehrm .. okay!?"