Element Full Moon Spirit Zone (Germany)

If the words "trance with vocals" brings up horrible pictures of Ian van Dahl, or worse still someone trying to be Ian van Dahl, then think again. Following 1999’s Akasha and 2000’s Transform, Element have been signed to Spirit Zone and the resultant Full Moon sits between psytrance, progressive, and outdoor festival muddy mayhem. Most interesting are the vocals courtesy of Dirk Draeger – they resonate with deep indie and goth undertones and lend a moody atmosphere to the smooth, energetic musical backbone. The fusion of semi-muffled vocals with sparkly linear patterns is reminiscent of Underworld, but where the latter has Karl Hyde’s nonspecific urban poetry, Element have a tendency to wander off into sets of silly couplets. This is particularly disappointing on Turn To Me and particularly Magic Flow, whose first four minutes of which are pure bliss, a hefty trance workout with perfect escalation, but by the time it peaks with "I wanna feel your magic flow / I wanna see your garden grow" it’s rather uncomfortable. When it works though, it works brilliantly – the perfect layering on opening track Full Moon, the way the bass kicks in on Rocket Exciter before it lifts you out of the stratosphere, and the vocal-free Rise which escalates and does exactly what it says it does. Just Dream is an angelic midnight masher with hard psychedelic roots mixed through their linear industrial mangle, and Outside World is a tasty bit of hardhouse/trance/psy fusion. All in all there are great moments on this, and the whole atmosphere will appeal to those who worked their way into psy from industrial or indie roots. Catch them live at a festival for sure, but try this album before you buy.