At the time of writing, Yoji has pretty much tried every harder dance genre in existence, trance, hardhouse, hardtrance, techtrance, hardstyle, you name it. While I truly like his latest techdance-oriented releases, I find myself returning more and more to his funky, sort of experimental tracks (where the focus was much more on the “techno” aspect), and thus this vinyl gets a lot of play time.

I still consider this release to be his absolute peak, with two completely different, but at the same time, equally awesome sides. “Samurai (The Keyboard Cowboys)” is a ridiculously catchy tune, where Yoji proves that he has mastered the use of ear-splitting Japanese-styled synths and sounds. The overall arrangement is brilliant, and the track never lets up or gets boring. It is truly a piece any harddance producer would be proud of to have in his/her discography.

On the flipside, Yoji has come up with the epitome of monotony, but boy, it is one of the best monotonous techno tracks I have heard to date. “The Rain” pretty much consists of one groovy techno beat, and as it progresses, the beat slowly evolves as additional elements are layered on top of each other, piece by piece. Definitely a great tune with a drive that can make pretty much any jaded listener move.

This track has become such a phenomenon in the club culture, especially since it's a hardstyle track. Living in a country where electronic music is shoved aside save for the obvious house and dance(core) hits, it's impressive to see a hardstyle track making a bit of a fuzz, mainly thanks to the rebellious lyrics.

The funny thing though is that even though the vocals are what made this track famous, they're not completely original since they're based on the vocals from Vinylgroover & The Red Hed - Live For The Weekend. The FTS vocals are obviously longer and the MC talks about other things, but the general premise and some entire sections are taken straight from the older hardtrance track.

Still, the Showtek track is a good one, and pretty much stays true to the hardstyle roots. I just wished more people knew where the vocals came from.

When The Beholder and Zany first teamed up, I didn't know what to expect. Sure, both are great producers, but I feared that their respective styles would clash, ending in disaster. Thankfully, I was proven wrong and they both created some wicked tracks.

And now this arrives. When I first heard it, I couldn't believe it. This is without a doubt one of the worst hardstyle tracks I've ever heard. The vocals are cheesy and stupid, the kicks are weak as hell, and the melody is vomit-inducing. There are simply no redeeming qualities at all to be found in this track.

The B-side isn't any better either, with a weak remix effort. Why bother remixing a classic track when the remix isn't even a fraction as good as the original? I'd call this the true definition of "remix-raping" a track. Still, it's better than the A-side, but that isn't saying much in this case.

When the 2007 anthem by Deepack - which was a weak effort as well - is much better than this track, you know something's definitely wrong. Here's hoping that the duo re-discovers the awesome that was "Midnight" and "Annihilating".

Usually, seeing a record store setting up its own label can be a sign of quality, or a sign of disaster. Thankfully, this label is of the former type.

In an age where hardtrance seems to be in a bit of a slumber, it's labels like this one that will help the genre revitalize. So far, every single release on GermanTrance has been pure quality, and it's obvious that the boys pulling the strings behind this label, producers and managers alike, have a clear picture on how great-sounding hardtrance should be like. I can only applaud that such labels still exist, and will continue to do so.

This is, in my opinion and without any doubt, the most consistent hardtrance/hardstyle label on the planet. This was the label that seriously got me into acid-infused hardtrance, and since discovering this label, I have not needed to turn to another label to get my hardtrance fix (I occasionally turn to Brain Recordings for heavier 303 though).

Every single release on this label has something unique to it; either it's an amazing acid line, great, bouncy basslines, catchy (and oftentimes funny) sampling, or most often everything combined. Regardless of which vinyl you pick from the label's discography, as a hardtrance fan you ought to find something extremely redeeming about your purchase. Or if you usually don't listen to hardtrance, then this label might even convince you to start exploring this genre, and the rest of Überdruck's awesome output.

What a monstruous track "Scanners" is! Immediately when starting, the track grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you breathe. Extremely hard and distorted, the track never lets go and keeps building up until the awesome vocal samples kicks in. After that, all hell breaks loose, and one of the darkest melodies I've ever heard is unleashed. Not one square inch is wasted on senseless stuff; this is perfection.

Don't overlook this gem, people: this is schranz at its finest.

This was THE most underrated hardstyle vinyl year 2007, which is a damn shame. Each and every track on this record is a masterpiece; they all are hard as steel, contain non-cheesy melodies and have a lot of original elements to them, but most importantly, they are still catchy and make you want to dance.

Even though it took a long time for the hardcore producers behind these names to release something new, it was damn worth it. Too bad the majority of the hardstyle fans will overlook this gem, just because everything revolves around cheesy nu-hardstyle nowadays.

I was lucky to find a copy of this vinyl three years after its original release date, and I'm extremely glad I did; this is one of the best hardtrance/hardstyle vinyls I have in my collection.

The Original Mix is an extremely rough hard trance track with a lot of great elements. Although some elements are borrowed from producers like Scot Project, they are put to great use here, and everything meshes to create an awesome track.

The Hardstyle Mix is almost as good as the A-side, and contains a sick kick and bass drum that has an extreme drive. The melody here is much simpler than the one the other side offers, but it fits well with the norm of the hardstyle genre, and compared to all the dance-like nu-hardstyle tracks nowadays it's a blessing.

If you like your hardtrance and hardstyle awesome, look no further than this record.

A little while ago Tracid Traxxx was declared dead, seeing as Kai Tracid himself was growing tired of the classic hardtrance sound. But, things took a fast turn, and the label has been resurrected, so the label being dead was merely just a short hiatus, if anything.

Anyway, starting with the 30xx catalogue numbering, the label is back but with a completely different sound, and this makes me mad and saddens me at the same time. Instead of closing down the Tracid Traxxx name at its peak and entering the label in the music history as one of the best hard trance labels ever, someone decided to use the strong TTX brand name to reboot everything and ride on the previous success. Don't get me wrong, the new style might be liked by newcomers, but to the old fans (that most likely won't appreciate the new sound at all, like me), this is a pretty strong blow.

I personally would've seen this label stay defunct instead of changing (like Warp Records have been slowly doing lately), but there's nothing you can do. At least the old TTX 20xx releases I have will never leave my collection.

A great release. The A-side is pretty typical industrial hardcore, and as such isn't extremely remarkable, but the real treat is the B-side. "Punk Bitch" is a great track, and surprisingly sounds a lot like (distorted) hardstyle in the style of Brain Ovulation or the likes. "End Of Eternity" is an old-sounding hardcore track that won't win any originality awards, but still is a catchy track. Overall, a solid vinyl, thanks to "Punk Bitch".