Om Unit – Inversion

Redefined drum and bass for me personally. My favourite Om LP for sure. Pure, emotional, cabalistic beat science.

Ok I bought this release a couple of months ago and have listened to it a fair bit before I reviewed it. The reason? I wanted to listen to the whole album repeatedly before I reviewed it - if only to give my review a bit of objectivity.

To start, I love this album. I have a lot of Metalheadz and Moving Shadow on vinyl and have listened to Goldie and Rob Playford as far back as '93 so I was very interested in seeing how this album was influenced by Goldie's input. Let me just say, that it is subtle, and strengthens an already great album. Starting with a great opener in 'Touching Down', when I first heard this, I thought this might be a bit of a concept album and so it is: but once you hear 'The War', you start to get it. There is a theme throughout the entire album, reminiscent of Goldie's Timeless. Goldie also kindly gave Om Unit access to some of his early original DATs, and throughout the album there are touches here and there, like the marbling in a marble sponge. It's so well done it's hard to see the join so to speak. There are keyboards, vocals and drums that will keep anyone who was around in the original Metalheadz early days more than happy. The Crossing is a really nice track, almost Dub Step in its mellowness and style, with contemporary production but again harking back to those mid 90s heydays. The album goes from strength to strength wth Bardo Realms, Parallel and Understand all quality offerings to keep any D & B head nodding in appreciation. Not quite a a midnight dance floor wrecker, it's more like a 5am chill out album - there's some nice old school amen breakbeat passages and more 90s touches that for me, have made this my favourite release at the moment. Complete with a CD of identical tracks - happy days. CD for my car, vinyl for mixing. Win win.

I remember the feeling around clubland when Goldie along with Kemistry & Storm were ripping it up in the clubs, and a little bit later when Metalheadz and Moving Shadow along with V Recordings were producing some of the best dance music that in my opinion had ever been produced. All three labels were so influential in the 90s. But those halcyon days are well and truly back.......This album is a huge contributing factor to the highly deserved recent Metalheadz renaissance.........Along with some great artists, Metalheadz are again doing what they do best - giving lowly DJs like me quality drum and bass to rinse. And I will do. A lot. After repeated listens I only like it more and more and I urge anyone who's likes D & B to buy a copy. This really will appeal to anyone of the early to mid 90s and first time D & B listeners alike.

A quality album from Om Unit on a quality record label. If you only buy one album this year; then you could do a hell of a lot worse than buying this. Don't be surprised if this is one of those albums that turns out to be worth a fair bit in future. Yes, I personally think it's that good. And I will be buying a second copy to put away in my little vinyl vault.

20 years and counting. here's to 20 more. Long live Metalheadz.

This release harks back to the early ethos of the label but with contemporary production values. Top class stuff from Om Unit. Metalheadz continues its renaissance.

Ohh my gosh this is some of the best dnb production i have heard in a long time! full of detail' original ideas and real nostalgia. A must have for anyone who went raving in the 90s .If you like the metalheadz sound and do not own this go grab it! Set to be a classic 11/10!!!!!!