Various – Limited Fear - The Extrema Edition

After the nasty DJ Ruffneck vs. XSV Music court case, Patrick van Kerckhoven pressed on with his vision of Hardcore. This lead to the creation of Gangsta Audiovisuals. The first release was an excellent continuation of Artcore: Fear Of A Ruff Planet II - The Quest For Justice, me and my friends used to call it the Gangsta double. I guess to push the new label further, a few weeks after Fear Of A Ruff Planet II was released, DJ Ruffneck drops this Limited Edition record, which he had done periodically during Ruffneck Records. I think the most surprising aspect of this record is how diverse it is, it may have shocked some Ruffneck Soldiers, either in a record shop or the audio clips on Gangsta.nl.

By far the most distinctive producer on the Ruffneck Records roster was Comababy. He was just different. His Artcore was styled more towards free flowing Hard Tekno, and the two tracks here fly in the face of traditional Hardcore Gabber. Soul Eater Lvl. 13 (great name!) is an interesting tune. Using a flatter kickdrum, there's lots of twisting and turning Techno sounds, all sorts of peculiar and tantalising sounds coming in and out of the sequencer. I believe there is also one or two sound bites pulled from Void Sector, another lovely track by Comababy and Ruffneck. There is no discernible breakdown and only a few momentary pauses for breath before the track rattles on. I appreciate how different Soul Eater Lvl. 13 is, but I do find it difficult to play in a DJ set. But maybe its incumbent on me to find ways to incorporate it. I do wonder if this track would work well in a French Free Tekno mix?

Rave Racer actually uses a harder Gabber kick, so that's a plus. The twisting sounds continues here with a nice synth line manipulated in several directions and really adds to that free flowing sound. Possibly using Mid Sweep for those beautiful Artcore sweeping synth sounds. Once again, very few if any breakdowns, so mixing in is harder than mixing out. Also the "we give you the Hardcore" sample is quite ASMR, ironic since this is Hardcore Techno! There is also some odd percussion patterns, it does keep you on your toes when you are cueing up your next record. I want to believe the song title comes from the old NES game, Rad Racer! Rave Racer is a highly underrated tune and would sound tasty in an Early Hardcore DJ set. Sadly this A-Side are the last tunes Comababy made before fading into obscurity......

The track that most of us liked on Limited Fear - The Extrema Edition was Myztic - Unacceptable (space)(exclamation mark!) Nosferatu had made some great tunes on Fear Of A Ruff Planet II and would even produce the next Gangsta vinyl release after this one. Clearly he was spending some serious time in the studio. Unacceptable is noteworthy since it doesn't really sound like the unique Alpha Juno sound of Ruffneck. To me, it has more in common with hard Rotterdam Gabber, with the secondary synth sounding similar to Hardcore To The Bone by Masters Of Ceremony. The shouting movie samples have been taken from the 1996 film, The Rock. I think it's a solid tune, probably doesn't get played as much as a B-Side track on a Limited Edition record. Unacceptable is only track on this vinyl that wasn't on the Fear Of A Ruff Planet II CD, so it's plausible that this was the last tune to be produced during February 1998 before the DAT was sent to the pressing plant. This is the last time the name Myztic was used by Nosferatu.

To stretch the open mindedness of many Ruffneck fans, we lastly have So Bright (dot dot dot) by the man himself. But instead of manic Alpha Juno madness, we are presented with dark Drum n Bass! I'm in no position to critique this type of music, but its such an interesting departure from his signature Hardcore sound. I mean I shouldn't be surprised, Patrick dropped a few DnB tracks in amongst Ruffneck Records. He was really passionate about Drum n Bass to the point there was one Drum n Bass track in most of the Gangsta records. Even created a record label to cater to this sound, Ruff-Teck. Furthermore, for a few years he completely stopped playing Hardcore and only played Drum n Bass. There would be Gangsta parties where DJ Ruffneck (a famous Gabber DJ producer) would play the opening set of the night, playing DnB! Interesting to note that on the You Tube video for this song, So Bright (dot dot dot) was made by D'Spyre. :)

I have nr. 60. The signatures are super cool. One of my best friends has the marbled vinyl of G 52-5L which is rare as hell. The same friend bought two copies of every Gangsta vinyl release from Limited Fear to Technological Era off the Gangsta website in 1999. The fact this Limited Fear record was still available after a year is unusual. The week after he made the record order, the Wayz Of The Core was released, I remember he was super dirty about that! I like how different this record is compared to the entire Ruffneck discography. Sure people want the record because its scarce, but how many people really appreciate the music on display here. Limited Fear, hmmm like I get it, but it doesn't really work in English. I still don't know what Extrema refers to. Is THE FUTURE etched on the B-Side a Nosferatu reference, meh clutching at straws! DJ Ruffneck claims he has the worst signature, though this record has him signing his real name, which he usually doesn't do. All Things Change In A Dynamic Environment.

I'd like to think some of these songs were played here: https://imgur.com/a/6FO2FOC

again super sick flowing signature production from Comababy on Soul Eater

I have #31 here and it it marbled as well. Maybe first 50 are marbled?