The Green Nuns Of The Revolution* – Rock Bitch Mafia

When I was a wee lad this album was too much for me. I yanked my headphones off on track 2 and was like "the fuck is this shit". Fast forward years later, it is a top fiver in goa trance for me. Anyone uninitiated has to prepare themselves that this not exactly traditional goa although it shares many familiar elements. Many intense tempos with really raw acid leads from an OSCar and probably a real TB-303 too. If you are already a fan of acid trance or hard trance (think Hardfloor on steroids and lsd), then this will probably be easier for you to get into than the average person. Furthermore, I think there is a really keen sense of classic British humor here too (think Mr Ed, Mighty Boosh, Monty Python) mixed with some British rock flavors like The Kinks late 60s stuff, The Piper At The Gates, Odessey & Oracle, which could be an acquired taste... I know it was for me.

When I was rediscovering this album, I found myself studying the 8 pieces here as if they were each its own university course. Each track became my new obsession for a month. They blew my mind. The writing, arrangements, sequencing, fx, fills, etc is mad genius. There is so much to sink your teeth into here.

The album features a number of recording styles as this albums dates ranges from 95-97, which seems like a short period of time, but not really considering the explosive evolution of goa trance then + the inclusion of a third member. With most groups I can usually deduce which members contributed what to a band's sound, with Green Nuns I am not so sure. I think Dick was responsible for a lot of the screaming OSCar leads, Matt probably general engineering and a lot of additional sound design between pads and the videogamey synth fills, and Neil adding more compositional strength and some quantized "live" keyboard playing. Take this with a grain of salt though, it's hard to pin down. I do know that their sound shifted a bit when Neil joined. But even though this album broadly encapsulates some different sounding mixes, the core identity is always there. When played start to finish, the album still feels very cohesive.

A few random thoughts on the individual tracks:

Cor- ridiculous guitar powercords section. The guitar I think has some flanger added and could have maybe hit harder without that but still ridiculously explosive. The ping ponging percussive cymbally synths in the following section absolutely destroy my brain. The shimmering arps that swell in and out of the background add another dimension which is a really nice touch.

Thunder Thighs- song of epic proportions with very distinctive elements. Arranging this must have been some feat. The grand finale consists of a few bars where every channel at the mixing desk was on go. It's practically comical, like Spinal Tap "these go to 11" (tying into the British style humor referenced). Somehow the final is listenable, if I listen carefully enough I can kind of pick out the individual channels.

Octofunk- actually super complex, probably the best showcasing of Neil's talents on this album. Maybe an underrated track here because the sound of the mix is toed in. But pay attention to the details and lots will be revealed. Like most Green Nuns, the energy level takes off in the second half, and by the time it's over I'm always wanting more. It could have been a 9 minute track honestly.

Ring Of Fire- super explosive track. The bassline at the start, is probably what the ancient Egyptians heard from over the dunes when Ashurbanipal was coming for their ass. Or Genghis Khan's theme song. Then the synth work just erupts to "holy shit" levels and Im sitting there with my Vince Mcmahon face on.

Rock Bitch- another complex track with Neil and another that had infinite potential to be even longer. Insanely fucking detailed.

I wish very much that Green Nunions hadn't missed this album by a few months. A complete Green Nuns box set would be great. Maybe the Matt+Dick stuff on one disc and +Neil stuff on another.

Ridiculously good Goa album with crazy style. I'd love to have affordable reprint of the CD and LP without remastering.

Definaltly my alltime favorite psy album. A true TB 303 masterpiece

That is Roger Waters daughter, India Waters on the cover of the album. Shot on a very hot day in Tim Kent's flat in Clapham North

A true classic from the golden era of goa, very acid & melodic,
unfortunately Nowdays you can't hear top quality Goa trance like this.

This has to be one of the finest or possibly the best ever Goa trance albums to be released very few albums in this genre manage to pull off what the green nuns have done here which is 8 tracks of the maddest acid infested!! Trance available track 2 reminds me of public domains operation blade incidentally they probably sampled there hit from the green nuns,i prefer the unadulterated version here every track keeps you interested since i managed to get a brand new copy on the novatekk label i cant put it down it gets rinsed at least 3 times a day a lot of people like the Pleiadians - I.F.O. (Identified Flying Object)
but this is more twisted whats also notable is there unique sound really punchie gimmicky in your face psychedelic trance paying homage to the Roland TB303 acid sound also most of there tunes our very dark and heavy not for the subdutle, check out the ring of fire(eat static remix) on the singularity compilation they do quite a good job obviously nowhere near as good as the original but its worth a listen also checkout the green nuns remix of prana's "scarab".Widely regarded as there best track/remix every think these guys have produced is supreme quite often when i listen to some of there remix work i come to the conclusion that all there remixes our better than the originals themselves,althou short lived there material still rules many a dance floor,it would be very difficult to pick the best track because there all exceptionally good but if i had to i would pick conflict for its pure acid trance sound, i cant recommend this album enough it would of been nice to see there other track "Megallenic cloud" included here which is another awesome acid meets trance banger i have played this album to people who dont even like trance they were taken aback by how good it sounded if you cant wait to hear it go to flyingrhino.com and listen in mp3 format considerimg they only released this album they have left a major legancy on account of this one album release which propeled them to the forfront of the goa scene i have never heard nothing that even comes close to sounding like them they represent goa to the core green nuns i salute you!!!!!True innovators.No one has matched them to date except Hallucinogen !