Millennium Fever

by

Apollo 440

Edit

I'm pretty surprised that I'm the first reviewer of this excellent album, that was released a decade ago.

Anyway, Apollo 440 are among my favorite electronic musicians, because whatever they do in records, they do with much creativity and intelligence. This album is pure energetic trance music with plenty of drive, driving bass and a strong guitar part. It makes an excellent music to drive a car on an empty highway. But also can be a pleasure to sit and listen to, which is a rarity among dance music artists. It's catchy guitar riffs and exciting rhythms will ignite a spark in you. Occasional use of other not so typical instruments, like a flute in "Film Me And Finish Me Off" only add to the feeling of listening to something special. The band also adds samples to further enhance the experience. And several tracks are slower than the album in general, providing a necessary breathing space. The record also includes a cover of Van Halen's "Don't Fear the Ripper".

If you like intelligent dance music that provides as strong an experience just listening to it, as strong it sounds on the dancefloor, you can't go wrong with @440!

I checked this out after hearing Deep Forest's absolutely phenomenal remix of "Liquid Cool" on Sasha & John Digweed's Northern Exposure. Apollo 440 is a 90's techno act through and through, but create a little variety with their judicious infusion of guitars and jock rock motifs. I enjoyed the original version of "Liquid Cool" (though it doesn't even compare to the aforementioned remix), I really enjoyed "Omega Point" with it's gorgeous downtempo groove and trippy samples, but didn't care for much else on the album. High energy rock techno, super cheesy synth lines (think Nintendo 64 racing game cheesy and you'll get the idea), and bad vocoder vocals. "Film Me & Finish Me Off" and "Pain Is A Close Up" are bearable (the former actually being a decent techno tune), but this stuff is really too dated for contemporary electronic tastes to enjoy.