Sons Of Aliens – In Love E.P.

It's always interesting to see how famous DJ/producers started out, in this case I'm talking about Dutch superstar DJ, Ferry Corsten. Already having success under the name Tellurians, this record shows the final stages of Ferry's Hardcore period.

My favourite track here is In Love With You. The track is simple and only has a few elements, but it all works remarkably well. The way the female vocal is manipulated is clever and adds energy to the song. If you're listening to it in your headphones you can hear the vocal bouncing from left to right. There's a blunt Rotterdam Gabber kickdrum that gives the track a solid platform, with loud frantic hi-hats. There's a sweet but simple piano riff that sound good throughout. There's also an understated bubbly synth underneath everything which also works nicely. For me the interesting aspect here is the construction of the track, not many breakdowns, quite spacious in design, which is an indication of what Ferry Corsten would do in the future. Top track.

Wicked Games is a boring track, although the short Hip Hop breakdown three minutes in, is kinda interesting. Wagga Wagga is a large country town in New South Wales, Australia, it is also the B1 track on this multi coloured vinyl. This seems to be an attempt at Happy Hardcore, which was huge in 1995. Snappy Breakbeats and an infectious Ragga vocal kicks everything off. The main synth riff is a perky sliced up sound that goes left and right, overall it's an above average Happy tune. So F...ing What is straight hard Rotterdam Gabber, which revolves around beefy guitar licks. I would be interested to know how Ferry feels about this song after 25 years.

Overall, a fairly good Hardcore record by Ferry Corsten and long time co-producer, Robert Smit. Ferry is one of the few big DJs to acknowledge his Hardcore background, he claims that even when he was making music for Paul Elstak, he was considered too melodic for Hardcore. Besides being poor criticism, it eventually made him super famous a few years later. Ferry has also mentioned that his Trance music is made with some hardness in mind, which is a by-product of his time making Hardcore. A friend of mine met Ferry and Robert Smit at a local record store in the early 2000's and he casually mentioned that he had their Terror Traxx releases, they laughed and said: "Really? You still have those records?!"

Guilty pleasure this one some serious sounds in (love with you) can't help the hypnotic sounds of(wicked games)choo choo. throw away the handbag dance its stompy time get a sweat on

So F...ing What! is definitely the best track on this 12". A great blasting track!

Totally agree with the Jayster, there are some big gabba names out there playing trance, hard house etc but they are just one of many that jump on the bandwagon of what is in fashion at the time.

I still play hardcore but also play hard house etc as if you are a real deejay you will find the producers that are good at their jobs and the labels that try and keep it real.

These guys are professional and the term means to work at the highest level (for money). I certainly dont go to my work for free so why should they, even if they are playing cheesy s@*+e that they used to loathe.

As for Ferry Corsten he is still producing great songs and if you buy any of his stuff there are a lot of remixes which are hardcore-esque and still banging.

Its worth noting that Ferry Corsten (and several other dutch producer who at one time or another produced gabber) conveniently forget to mention it on their websites.
Obviously Ferry is too embarassed to mention his releases on Terror Traxx (good though they all were) lest the trance fans point and laugh.