69/100

• Enjoyable vocal by Matluck, our favourite element
• Standard drop, anonymous break
• Good quality, but we need more

Seeing Stadiumx back to progressive house is one of the best things of this summer. Listening to “Rise”, unfortunately, is not.

The new collaboration between Nicky and the Protocol veterans tries to bring up some chilly summerish progressive vibes, but results in being just a standard tune. We didn’t feel the expected vibes, but we have hopes for the future.

Nicky Romero keeps following a nice progressive path in this 2018. We couldn’t be happier, especially now that he brought with him the good old Stadiumx, one of the most promising progressive duo around, few years ago.

However, high expectations are dangerous. “Rise” is not bad, but, in few words, it’s nothing special. The sweet vibes of Stadiumx in the lead are recognizable, and Matluck did a good performance, but the melody didn’t stick in our brains. The breakdown, in addition, is anonymous.

We would have liked some more experimentalism, more personality, more courage. Progressive is back, but this means that standards are higher.
It’s still nice to see Protocol returning back to its roots, we can’t wait to see further releases from the artists! This is just the beginning.

You can listen to “Rise” here:

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