DeathPosture, Mar 11, 2006
Kaleidoscopic goa waves…
Swedish producer Jannis ‘Filteria’ Tzikas has fast become synonymous with the recent resurrection of modern goa trance. His first album Sky Input released in 2004 was a tornado of fresh air with its highly melodic, multilayered, climactic and cascading goa trance sound, whereas his output on the 2005 Suntrip Records compilation Apsara showed an even deeper, more edgy side to Filteria. And now the second album is ready, with the help of a few outside contributors… I’ve been drooling for this ever since it was announce and now it’s finally time to take another trip down Filteria Lane…
My main gripe with Sky Input was the intensity level… When I reviewed it, I used an analogy from the American Beauty movie; ‘Sometimes theres so much beauty in the world I feel like I cant take it, like my hearts going to cave in!’… Basically, that’s still true… This *is* a very intense album it can be very overwhelming… But by now, you should know what you’re getting into when listening to a Filteria album… And with that in mind, this album is a little masterpiece in its own right…
It’s not exactly a quantum leap since the first album, but Jannis has indeed matured his sound in many aspects… Especially when it comes to story telling and structural improvements… Picking the best among the two albums is not an easy task, but if you point a gun at me, I’d say Heliopolis is slightly better… But they are both gargantuan albums in their own right!
The cover art by Ukiro is by far the coolest I’ve seen so far on Suntrip Records, and it pays homage to the classic Matsuri covers… It’s beautiful! All in all, this is an amazing album – there are no bad tracks here, and there are a handful of instant classics that kicks the shit out of everything full-on released since Sky Input… A benchmark album that will crack smiles in several years to come! It gets my highest recommendations! …Enjoy!