This review covers the trance track Revelation – First Power (Computer Take Over Mix).
This track was released in 1990 along with 5 other tracks.
The track starts off with some very bassy effects and a subtle synth effect. If you’ve played Silent Hill, the sound effects sound like something taken from that game even though the game was released 8 years later. The effects fade away and a synth melody take over.
A filtered high hat comes in to help build the track up. A bass line also joins in. From there, the various elements pull back and a simple synth melody is all that is left. From there, a subtle drum kit comes back in. It doesn’t take long before a more full drum kit takes over. This drum kit builds up further.
At this point in time, everything pulls back and a different synth melody takes over. A second synth melody comes in.
Everything then pulls back and a subtle synth melody returns. The drum kit then builds the track back up again. A bass line does join in again. An additional synth melody also joins. The various loops repeats for some time. Gradually, the track then fades out.
One thing I will say is that this track seems to go for a more ambient style sound. While the track does have melodies, they are toned down by quite a bit. In fact, pretty much everything is toned down quite a bit. Not only is everything much more quiet, but there’s no element that tries to capture attention either. The bass line is simple, the hats have only small amounts of colour, there’s very little texture in the synths. Everything is quite toned down. So, this isn’t trance music that I’m used to personally, but I am aware of more ambient styles in different genres.
There are certain elements that this track does allow to shine through. This is done by pulling back other elements and leaving some elements as solo elements. Unfortunately, this track does take a misstep and repeats the elements it brings forward over and over again. As a result, the track is a bit on the repetitive side.
Additionally, the last minute or so is just the same elements left on loop. While a little repetition works quite well some of the time. I’m not so sure it worked so well here. In fact, about half way through the ending, I honestly found myself distracted. It was just a bit on the boring side for me.
I normally do like trance music a lot. Unfortunately, this one is a bit of a miss for me. While I can appreciate ambient style trance tracks, this one winds up being a bit repetitive. While it has some decent audio atmosphere, the track also winds up getting repetitive as well. This is especially true towards the end of it. So, in the end, this winds up being a pretty average track.
Score
6/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
