Clubland X-Treme Hardcore Vol.4 - Various Artists > Reviews > Clubland Hardcore Xtreme Volume 4

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it rate alongside the competition	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Familiar and enjoyable bold UK Hardcore Style .  Hixxy's disk was in my opinion the highlight .
Disadvantages:	Styles Breeze and Hixxy have played it safe and produced largely unimaginative works .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Clubland X-Treme Hardcore Volume 4. The latest in the heavily titled and equally heavily popular UK Hardcore Dance compilation that has seen DJ Styles, Breeze and Hixxy producing and mixing their own compilations Bi-Annually since 2006.

What is Hardcore?

For those of you whom quite like dance music as a whole but don't quite know what makes hardcore different to other types of dance music, for instance the music featured in Clubland 14, I will give a brief introduction.

Hardcore has a faster and heavier sounding beat. The beat usually stays very steady throughout the entire track except for breakoffs- points where the beat dissapears completely and the listener is put into a relaxed state with a mixture of slow strings and harmony. Hardcore uses lyrics more as an instrument than a dominating omnipresent part of music. In this album, lyrics are heavily relied upon in some tracks and completely ignored in others. Hardcore DJ show no restraint in adding sound effects and long drum snare fills to drive the music up into a powerful crescendo. Words are however, only words. And to feel the full effect, I suggest visiting HMV or Virgin Music's new brand Zawi and swiping this CD under a 'try before you buy' headset to experience it for yourself.

Strangers

For those who haven't listened to the previous outings of Clubland's hardcore deviances, CXHD4 offers about 45 tracks of Hardcore Anthems with female vocals, with the remaining 15 tracks being 'harder' and having less in the way of lyrics. These 15 harder tracks are spliced throughout the CDs so fans of the more happy sounding tracks may find themselves skipping the tracks at intervals. Hardcore quite a niche, so Clubland is simply trying to cater to music lovers with slightly different tastes. What this means for you is that whether you like fast beats and bold anthems, or omninous synth sounds and hypnotic rhythms, you should find you enjoy a good selection of these tracks, just not all.

Old Friends

For those who are no stranger to the series. CXHD4 offers simply more of the same. Yes, thats right. If you like your Styles, Breeze and Hixxy, you won't find yourself dissapointed as this compilation doesn't really creatively grow out of its older siblings shadow. Some notable differences are that Styles and Breeze's disks place more emphasis on guitar samples than ever before, and long breakoffs than ever before. Not as epic as Clubland Xtreme Hardcore 2's sound, nor as neat and tight sounding as Hardcore 3, Clubland Xtreme Hardcore 4 offers a sound that falls in the middle.

And Finally

This CD delivers 60 tracks for £12. Thats 20p for track, and even though all tracks don't cater for all tastes, this represents great value for money.

Hixxy, Styles and Breeze proove themselves to still be among the top of the UK's internationally lauded Hardcore DJs.

If you've never purchased a CD with 'Hardcore' in the title then I recommend Clubland Xtreme Hardcore 2 or Clubland Xtreme first. These are in a few respects, slightly more likened to the majority of dance music lovers tastes. However for that HTID crowd, I see no reason why Clubland Xtreme Hardcore 4 shouldn't make a mark on your shelf.

Simon Oates

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