With Anthems To the Welkin at Dusk Nordic black metal troopers Emperor cleverly conjured up a bewildering banquet of a heavy rock album. The icy Norwegian landscapes and its dooming desolation, languorous loneliness, deepest despair and ghastly gloom have been aptly translated by musical mastermind Ihsahn and his fellow Scandinavian warriors into loudly thundering riffs that storm past the heavens, beautifully bombastic and touchingly transcendent Wagnerian keyboard melodies that uplift listeners and lightning-fast battery by session drummer Trym (Enslaved) that always provide a soul-crushing sensation of staggering speed and awe-inspiring aggression inherent to the controversial music genre that is black metal.
After a headily heroic and strikingly solemn introduction, Emperor’s second full-length outing bursts loose into a monolithic monster of a riff craftily created by Mayhem’s Euronymous –the long-deceased cult figure of the black metal underground. The opening track Ye Entrancemperium poses as one of the fastest and most furious tracks on this disc yet never fails to deliver the soaring and majestic magnitude typically associated with the highly acclaimed Emperor-sound – thus perennially surpassing the trademark primitive rawness of black metal with a luscious layer of simmering synths – in the case of Emperor never uniquely serving as a pause or interlude in the extreme metal onslaught but adding an apocalyptic edge to the furious riffing and fast-paced drumming.
Thus Spake The Nightspirit takes a step back from the breakneck speeds, opting instead for a more romantic approach with doom-laden guitar melodies and touching clean vocals.
The two ensuing tracks Ensorcelled by Khaos and teaser single The Loss and Curse of Reverence are lengthier enabling both the churning impact of the pummelling speed and the gorgeous melody of the symphonic interludes.
The following duo of The Acclamation of Bonds and With Strength I Burn provide the poetic zenith of the album, emphasizing a fabulous feeling of grand glory that engenders images of valiant Norsemen from a mythical past and taking musicianship to the next level.
The Wanderer serves as an apt instrumental finishing touch to the best heavy rock album ever.

As with every single DJ Jean mix compilation, this one's a mixed bag. I personally dig Jean the most for his Amsterdam "hands in the air" funky hardhouse that the modern DJ establishment apparently rates too tacky to spin. Examples of such grooves are Fucking with the beat, Killa conflicts by Majaro and Those 2's Get Wicked in the original mix, not the Yomanda-ish (and yes, Masterson also delivered a mix for this one) The Freak and Mac Zimms Mix. Hardhouse afficionadoes will easily recognize Klubbheads' Turn up the bass and the extremely efficient Klubbheads VS DJ Jean mix of his own hit single Love come home.
On the more trancey side of the hardhouse spectrum are the beautiful Magica (luckily, not the Klubbheads mix) and the ultra-catchy Lost in Emotion by Analyse. Further highlights include Pegasus by Mauro Picotto.
Sadly, Jean who always has had an exquisite taste for house, frequently opts for the lowest common denominator when it comes to trance.

This is a happy sounding chunky and funky hard house tune with uplifting "hands in the air" synths that creates a feel good atmosphere on the dancefloor. Luckily, the lazy speed of their previous effort has been upped so we get a more Perfect Phase-ish sound and a helluvalot more kickdrums, gotta love those.
Helium vocal samples are present as the quintessential hardhouse staple ingredient of this bumpy track. I definitely hope to see more releases of the Groovaholics team.

I really appreciate this compilation for the more funky Amsterdam-sounding stuff at the beginning of both CDs courtesy of artists such as Knuckleheadz (a great B side; with the vocal "you can feel it... from London... from New York to LA...)Groovaholics, Perfect Phase (Slammer Jammer, not as impressive as Horny Horns) and the boys themselves with their Untidy dubby stuff on CD two. The rest of the CD which is much harder has a couple of strong moments such as Boys like U. Unfortunately, it can get a bit boring and repetitive too.