After the collapse of formulaic Dutch-Trance, by the mid-2000s Tech-Trance had ascended to be the dominant style within the Trance genre. Taking influences from the genre’s roots it fused the atmosphere and ethereal qualities of Dutch-Trance with the repetitive uncompromising rhythms of Techno. Though sharing some aesthetics, Tech-Trance retained a sensibility sorely missing from Hard-NRG and Hard-Trance alike. At its peak, British based Nukleuz, with heavy support from Italy’s BXR, were the unconquerable masters of Tech-Trance. A release on its Green imprint was almost guaranteed to feature in the playlists of the top commercial club DJs. Ten years later, with Nukleuz a shadow of its former self, the style was almost completely absent from the headlines of major events as Trance shifted away from atmosphere towards heavily produced melodic recordings. Tech-Trance’s forgotten audio territory was reclaimed comprehensively in 2016 when FSOE Clandestine released its first single. The sub-label offered a darker techno influenced sound and provided a welcome counterpoint to the light and bright mainstream trance provided by the bigger labels. The opening single, Lunacy, from the world renowned German duo Stoneface & Terminal firmly established the label’s sound. The pair would also provide A&R duties to the new imprint ensuring a solid audio niche was carved by the label. Five years and over 125 releases later, this recording offers an introduction to the selected works of FSOE Clandestine.
dcp84-020:2020-12-30