Total Eclipse – Delta Aquarids

Inspired to write this after seeing Chimushi's review. To anyone expecting to be plugged into hyperspace and throttled by a thick mix of saw riffs, earth shaking kicks, soul shredding acid lines, and heavy effects on every channel, you will not find that here...

This album features a more bare mix with lighter kicks and bass than what was typical in classic goa trance. (Compared to their contemporaries) there is very little saturation between the layers, few effects like delay, flange, and phasing. The sound is toed-in, delicate, and properly vintage, without sounding exactly cheap or dated (imo). Their skill lies in crafting exquisite melodies and rhythms, voicing and matching them up in exotic ways, and thorough variation and development throughout each track. And I think the light sound of their mixing befits the programming style well. It has charm, it sucks me in, it has tremendous personality and replay value. With a sound like this, the compositions need to be good, and they are, and there is a ton of focus on that element of musicianship.

So yes, it deserves its status as a classic. And as others have mentioned, the legend of Total Eclipse goes back several years before this so check out those compilation works and remixes too. The only unfortunate thing here is the album cover, which is crap, I'm sorry guys. But the black and white photo of them in the studio is great.

One of the best goa trance album. Distinctive and really well made, nothing to throw away here.

The debut album from Total Eclipse, a French triumvirate formed by Stephane Holweck, Serge Souque, and Loïc Van Poucke, is one of the finest products of the golden age of Goa trance. Every song exudes their signature sound but there’s an incredible variety of moods explored across this uniformly excellent album. From dark and menacing to bright and funky, this album has it all! Highlights: The Crucible, Can’t Do That, Le Lotus Bleu, Blade Runner, and Free Lemonade. But really, the entire album still sounds fantastic and unique.

Listened to this when i was 14/15 years old (i'm 36 now). I'm french like the group and i discovered it by a french radio called "Skyrock" which is really rap oriented but at the time broadcasted a saturday night techno/rave oriented show called "Skyrave". I then discovered the trance/goa prophets of the time like "Hallucinogen", "Astral projection", "Transwave" etc. I really quit this scene in early 2k but Total Eclipse remains in my memory. Like some kind of a "goa french touch". For me Total eclipse sound has aged very well. I don't think this is the case for others groups like "Astral Projection" which sounds very kitchy to me today. Something darker and less "cosmos, planets, religion and early 3d computing" oriented. Despite having listened more than reason "the crucible", i'm still in love with this tune 23 years after !

I was surprised by how little I resonated with this much heralded release. That being said, there are many other essential Total Eclipse tracks on other releases that await discovery from this great Goa artist. As Joseph says in his review below; "Waiting for a New Life" is definitely one of those essential tracks.

Альбом крутой, а переиздание ужасное! Такую классику могли бы сделать и лучше!!!Inpsyde Media в мусор!

The first album by one of the Godfathers of the genre. Alongside artist like Hallucinogen, Astral Projection, Man With No Name and The Infinity Project, Total Eclipse with releases on labels like TIP Records, Blue Room Released and Dragonfly Records are the creators of the true Goa Trance sound from back in the days.

Delta Aquarids contains eleven tracks which today sound a bit dated unfortunately, but one has to appreciate the quality of these tracks. Amongst the best tracks some highlights are Free Lemonade, Le Lotus Bleu, Can’t Do That, The Crucible and Blade Runner. Tracks are simple in texture when compared especially to their second album “Violent Relaxation” in 1996; but all tracks are nice, and each track has that unmistakeable Total Eclipse sound.

Surprisingly this album lacks their best track ever, the 1994 “Waiting For A New Life”, which is also the second release on the legendary TIP Records. This track is almost 10 minutes long so two tracks would have had to be left out from this album for it to fit. This album though contains a lot of tracks which weren't released elsewhere so leaving the mentioned track out was probably the right move.

Luckily this album has been reissued in 2005 on Inpsyde Media so it’s easily availaible. Don’t let it go away. If you don’t have it, buy it now. Delta Aquarids is one of the highlights of the genre. To point that like a majority of Blue Room Released releases artwork is horrible but don’t let that put you off.