Boymerang – Balance Of The Force

Today my thoughts about the best jungle/dnb album in the 20th century unexpectedly led me to this release. There are a lot of good compilations, but with the albums everything is more difficult
I don't listen to it often, but that doesn't stop me from respecting every track.
The album should be reissued on an augmented 3x12" version

Can't believe this album slip pass me i thought i had everything decent from 1997 and i failed lol only new about this in 2020 crazy sounds new to this day and it should of be on metalheadz or protoype records must buy on sight..

20 years after this double lp stay in good place of my favorite plates

a masterpiece of the golden age of drum& bass, a fantastic album! a darker version of photecs music at this time.

Sublime tech step vibes from one of the best in the sound

Previous posters are absolutely right, such an underrated record and more importantly producer. Deep productions that require you to really listen, then they suck you into different worlds. Some of the tracks on this album are on par with Photek when it comes to atmospheres created, others are menacing as any good Metalheadz

Simply put: one of the greatest drum&bass albums of all time. Stunning production, amazing tunes. Get it!

Highly underrated album, a work of art. Reckon it was overshadowed by the success of Reprazent's 'New Forms', which was released around the same time.

Very fine grooves from the early days of D#n#B. From deep instrumentals to ladies singing 'ohowowho'. Get it while it's cheep.

Graham Sutton caused quite a stir in 97, the former idm/leftfield upstart who has effortlessly joined the progressive edge of the mainstream d&b scene, having (it is rumoured) been wooed by WARP among others in the process.
His "Urban Space/Still" 12" remains something of a classic, and this album explored his patch of d&b territory, erring on the lighter side of things, producing widely differing reactions from his audience.
Breaking off with "Soul Beat Runna", which had previously been issued as a single, a generally fairly dreamy track which features a fat buzzing b-line, and narrowly avoids the soupiness of much of this supposedly arty drum-n-bass.
"Mind Control" follows, with a kind of techstep-lite feel - the atmosphere is dark but not evil and the breaks are powerful but not enormous. There are also some wicked blippy techno noises in this, and an interesting breakdown with a nifty little guitar riff and lots of reverb.
"The River (VIP)" features a female vocal snippet, and pretty much amounts to a reprise of the sounds of Goldie's "Timeless" album. Washes past pleasantly but doesn't really go anywhere.
"You Like it Like that" which follows, is, by contrast, a hard dark stormer of a track, a switchback ride of alternating breaks, massive basslines and the usual bag of dark sound effects. "A.C.I.D." seems like another Bukem/Goldie soundalike track until the bendy buzzy synths and occasional shock breaks start. Finally a wicked swopping and wiping acid synth line dances along with the track, providing an excellent counterpoint to the lush instrumentation and occasional female vocal samples.
"Where it's at" features some Martin Luther King snippets over its jazz/techstep hybrid track, and "Secret Life" is a lush downtempo smoocher. With its 80bpm tempo it could be a really useful mellow interlude in a smooth jazzy d&b set.
On the last side, "Still" was a familiar stormer from he earlier issued single, and "Lazarus" is another lush piece, though lacking some of the twists of earlier tracks on the LP.
Overall, then a beautifully produced, cleverly positioned (between dark and light) album, very clever and innovative at its time, occupying perhaps similar territory to Goldie's "Timeless" from a couple of years before.