Negative Burn – Crime City 2001 A.D.

Ooh, this is remarkable!
"Gates of heaven" is what could maybe considered to be "dark ambient hardcore". Acerbic-saccharine, futuristic, tranquille. 'I haven't been human for two hundred years'.
And "Gates of hell" is a doomed gabber smasher.

This Negative Burn vinyl seems to be a continuation of the excellent Lunatic Asylum project. Both being on Dance Ecstasy 2001 and starring Dr. Macabre himself. Also the music is a fascinating combination of Hardcore, Hard Trance, Techno and darkness. The song title, Gates Of Heaven, doesn't invoke darkness though, but check out that intro! A dark and lonely atmosphere with a sinister sound, like you are in the middle of space. This eventually leads into a haunting drawn out Pad and more futuristic sound effects. At the heart of this track (and also the best part of the track), is this truly breathtaking breakdown which sounds like a film score to an epic scene in a Science Fiction movie! If ever the Planet Core Production phrase "music for huge space arenas" was relevant, it's here ladies and gentlemen. The small vocal sample before the beat kicks in, is Brad Pitt in the 1994 movie, Interview With The Vampire.

Gates Of Hell starts off with a lot of promise, the cold yet mesmerizing sound at the start is really nice, the added sirens also sets up the track quite well. The heavily pronounced dark synth vibrates across the track with ease, its a thick texture of sound that really should make this a killer track. Yet, everything disappears and you're left with a boring kickdrum, what the fuck? All that set up and no payoff, an unusual case where the first half is better than the second half.

Dr. Macabre has stated that he lost a lot of money with his PCP releases, he doesn't blame Marc Acardipane himself, but the collapse of Planet Core Distribution. This record is further proof that Guillaume Leroux is the king of French Hardcore.