The Big Room icons Blasterjaxx have been on a roll, releasing a bunch of singles including “Rulers of The Night”, which celebrates a decade of their formation. Further, they also plan to release fifteen tracks on top of the other that they released since this year’s onset. Thanks to them, the upcoming artists have a great inspiration to look up to, despite the pandemic massively affecting festival brand of music and in turn affecting Big Room genre, as familiar names turn to other profitable styles and bandwagon.
Today, they have revealed an EP titled “Mystica Chapter I”; it consists of five tracks from Blasterjaxx, both old and new. As I mentioned above, the title was chosen after their corresponding 2014 hit. At the same time, it also charted in certain European countries. I believe this EP contains a mixture of emotional, anthemic and crowd-hyping vibe, ready for the summer of 2021.
Our World (feat. Daniele Sorrentino)
86/100
“Our World” has stuck to me as a favorite from this assortment since it has been played at a couple of live-streams by Thom. It also features the uprising Italian singer-songwriter Daniele Sorrentino. Consider him as a worthy successor to Ziya or Jonathan Mendelsohn, if you will. Coming to the track, while the breakdown raises the bar with a melodic sojourn, it quickly transforms into a blasting drop. Also a nice additive is the pre-drop vocal, which doesn’t say “Put Your Hands Up” or something generic. A journey to be experienced, a banging opener!
Speaker Slayer
82/100
“Speaker Slayer” marks the second chapter of the Mystica series. The said production has a rumour floating in the grapevine that Quintino was involved in the collaboration as well. Due to similarity from their team-up with DVLM, it exhibits the exact hulking nature and trust me, a huge speaker somewhere is bound to be blown to smithereens from this one. Clashing a rumbling low-end of epic proportions with gnarly synths, it follows a simplistic yet teasing pattern, having an intended menacing and rampaging effect on the listener. This will be the perfect welcome for the rusty rave-goers, once events come back at full scale.
Flying Dutchman (feat. Zafrir)
67/100
This song is the second joint-effort with the covert Israeli mastermind Zafrir. “Flying Dutchman”, if one is not familiar, is a popular legend regarding a ghostly ship that makes it appearance in rarest and unexpected of moments, quickly disappearing thereafter and leaving its witnesses dumbfounded. Fables aside, the haunting theme in this record doesn’t execute all too well, although spooky to some ends and rocking the pirate shanty theme with Psy-Trance attributes. It particularly doesn’t leave any major impressions, but is a fair addition alright.
Liberty (feat. Heleen)
79/100
After acquiring much success with numerous other releases like “You Found Me” and “Super Friends”, “Liberty” comes off as a another experiment from Blasterjaxx. Why a higher rating here you ask? Well, the kick enables a cross between Progressive and Big Room, the balance which is catchy. It is a Big Room track all in all, with the usual croaky and dirty Dutch synths taking care of stamina in the louder portions, while Heleen (the songstress) provides a breath of life on this aggressive composition. Hoping there is a sequel sitting somewhere in Blasterjaxx’s hard-drive to be released, as “Liberty” deserves one certainly!
Hard Rave
80/100
The finale of this mentioned EP, “Hard Rave” is a rough and tough classic take on Electro House. The pair went for an old-school theme, oozing with vigour. This happens to be their take on a new variant called the Rave Room. A sub-genre deriving from harder fringes of Trance and Techno, it is befit as an underground genre. Unlike the usual pace in Big Room, this style shifts to a faster 132 BPM aligned to nailing kick drums, a refreshing change from the usual tonally enhanced ones from Blasterjaxx’s signature. It has an euphoric mid-interlude, trying to capture 2000s vibes with the melodic pattern. Lasting not long enough, the upbeat and thumping nature did ample to earn a decent score in my books.
Concluding, unlike last year, Blasterjaxx has kept a steady output which doubles my admiration and faith on them, and hopefully there are equally sizeable festival weapons on its way from the adept and passionate Maxximize bosses!
What do you think?
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