Total Eclipse - Violent Relaxation


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Label: Avatar Records, NMC Music (Israel)
Catalog#: AVA 015, 330196-2
Format: 2 x CD, Album, Reissue
Country:Israel
Released:2003
Genre: Electronic
Style: Goa Trance, Ambient
Credits: Artwork By [Original Graphics And Design] - Simon Ghahary
Artwork By [Special Edition Design] - Rangoon
Photography - Fanny Vannier
Producer, Programmed By, Written-By - Total Eclipse
Written-By - Loic Vanpoucke* (tracks: 1.1 to 1.3, 1.8, 1.9, 2.3, 2.4) , Serge Souque , Stephen Holweck* (tracks: 1.1, 1.2, 1.7 to 2.3)
Notes:Recorded at the Total Eclipse Studio, Bordeaux, France.
Published by Hanseatic Music GmbH.

Originally released on Blue Room Released.

(P) Blue Room Released. (C) Avatar Records 2003.

Track 1.3 is misspelled "The Furance"
Rating: 4.24/5 (41 votes) Rate It
101 have this / 8 want this
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Tracklisting:

1.1   Virtual Terminal Energised (7:21)
1.2   Area 51 (7:39)
1.3   The Furnace (9:02)
1.4   Teknophobia (8:16)
1.5   Chaotic Circus (7:46)
1.6   Absolute Zero (7:45)
1.7   Pulsar Glitch (7:42)
1.8   Space Clinic (7:29)
1.9   Blue Galaxie (8:24)
2.1   Espanolizer (10:30)
2.2   The Pendulum (9:40)
2.3   Black Body Radiation (8:16)
2.4   Diamond Ring Effect (9:54)
2.5   Time Drops (7:28)
2.6   51 Pegasus (8:11)
2.7   Gravity Mirage (8:51)
User Reviews:
maroko, May 23, 2008

I gotta say this is one of the rare albums Im digging from the kick off down to the very last note!
I mean, mon dieu, these garcons francaises were on some other shit back then- just check that first CD out- top drawer goa trance material teaching the rest how it is to be done! The harmony is there non stop, the psychedelic rock guitar riffs which were notable on their debut are toned down in favor of some of the most blissfull and emotional old school melodies. Dance to classics like The Furnace, Chaotic Circus, Pulsar Glitch or Area 51 until you drop dead or trip to each and any of these gargantuan tunes while chilling on your sofa, the effect and rawness of these numbers should be felt either way.
And if you by any chance feel like you havent been given your moneys worth with the disc #1, the second CD provides some mid tempo goa trance tracks in the same vein as Tandus classic New Aura. You know, not the slow, crawling ambient, but that smooth, hypnotic stuff with just enough bass and kick to keep you awake, while drifting away like whales in the darkness.
Im no big fan of downtempo/ambientesque stuff, but what the second part of "Violent Relaxation" has in store for the listeners is some of the sweetest and touching goan soundscapes ever created.

The melodies are powerful, memorable, pick any which one you want and its bound to get stuck in your head like... forever! Pick any kick, bass line, sound effect or mood these tracks portray and astonishment is guaranteed!
Hearing a Total Eclipse live circa 95-97 must have been an out of this world experience.
Whereas "Delta Aquarids" may sound dated, it still is, and quite probably always will be, like a big, but unpolished diamond in the rough, but "Violent Relaxation" is the french trio polishing, cutting n sharpening that diamond to guarantee and secure its timeless value and eternal status as a prime example others will forever be measured against.
10/10, for each CD on its own, and a 20/10 for the album as a whole. A true masterpiece.

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