NAJM Dance Music Reviews - Darude



			4 out of 5 (by HM)
		Darude Before The Storm (CD Album) The much anticipated debut Darude album is now available on the New York based Grooviliscious. Consisting of eleven hi-nrg euro trance tracks, Darude's "Before The Storm" album opens with the radio edit of his biggest hit to date; "Sandstorm", which has already sold in excess of a million copies worldwide. The Robert Miles inspired "Burning" is up next and is followed by Darude's other big hit "Feel The Beat". Miami's Power 96 is still playing this one every hour. Darude keeps the pace up until track #5 "Touch Me Feel Me" which is more of a down tempo chill-out track. Track #8 "Drums of New York" begins to approach tribal, but Darude keeps it in progressive trance land instead. The balance of the tracks are all very similar in nature; simple compositions slammed down in perfect euro trance syncopation with the occasional vocal sample over the top. The album ends with two JS:16 extended club mixes of the two big hits; "Sandstorm" and "Feel The Beat" respectively.


	Darude's "Before The Storm" more or less sounds exactly like you would expect it to, with no surprises. Although not shockingly original or ground breaking, Darude does his very specific genre justice. While DJs are probably the largest consumers of this material, mainstream America is now venturing quite happily into this once underground genre. If you like "Sandstorm" and "Feel The Beat" you won't be disappointed.

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