I received this two-disc compilation a few weeks ago, and it is a fairly decent followup to its not too distant predecessor.

Musically, this compilation has some really great stuff. The disappointing thing is that there are some mastering issues, amazingly. Track 5 on the first disc sounds like it has some digital distortion going on (around 4:00 you can hear the crunch), but as I don’t hear the whole sound distort, it is likely that is happened during the final mixdown of that recording. Doesn’t this make you wonder why the Darren Tate would have used this track in his mix though? Or perhaps I’ve mistaken an instrument for distortion, or it was purposely used as an effect. There another defect on the Track 8 that causes a prounounced click at 0:37. Honestly, these sort of things just shouldn’t be on a profressionaly produced compact disc! I wonder who in the line of production screwed up here, someone wasn’t paying attention?

Darren Tate does a decent overall job with the first disc. I seriously loved every track, but it really takes off on track 7, his own his Prayer For a God. Sensation’s Anthem 2003, which is an impressive trance version of Mozart’s Reqium, Darren Tate vs Jono Grant’s Nocturnal Creatures (my fave), and Mike Koglin vs 10th Planet’s Pushed (trance in minor key, awesome) all blend together very well, and Mono’s Rise is another notable. Ayla & Fila’s Eye of Horus and Scott Bond vs Solarstone’s 3rd Earth are both great tracks, though I’ve heard them too many times by now. It was really cool to hear the great Waiting by Kota with vocals laid on top now. All I Need Is Time by Aluna was also some great vocal trance, and I love the bouncy square rhythm pad.

The second disc is again mixed by DJ Esquille, and a lot of the [[grahame:music/atripintrance first compilation]]’s artists are back. Trancepulse Inc’s Lost In the Underwold, Enlounge’s Freefall, Innvervibes’s Approaching Dawn, DJ Blackbird’s I Dream, and Deceitful Mind by Moonlight are my favourite contributions to this disc, but nothing on here is bad trance.