Artist: Rene Amesz
Title: Open Your Soul / Made Of Metal
Label: Extrema Records
By: Simon Jones | 9 December 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Open Your Soul
• B: Made Of Metal

Rene Amesz "Open Your Soul / Made Of Metal"

Rotterdam based producer René Amesz has been carving himself a nice niche as a DJ in Holland, and this has only been assisted by his sideline of producing house music, with his big dirty beats and heavy basslines already proving a winner as evidenced by his single alongside fellow upcoming dutch star Base on Deep Records earlier this year. As the year comes to an end and we head into 2004, René is preparing for a series of singles, with this latest release on Extrema Records hoping to set the stage for what is to come.

'Open Your Soul' takes the trademark elements that are typical of René's sound but a big groove is thrown in for good measure, thumping away right from the first few beats. Laser synths bounce over the top of the groove in, adding to the infectious vibe that Rene lays down rather nicely, and leading down into a cavernous break, where big stabs back a soulful vocal provided by Lucien Foort's younger brother Stanley, who's powerful tones rise above the dirty beats, grabbing hold of your attention, whilst the groove leads your feet. A solid big room house track from Mr Amesz, and one of his best yet.

Heavy beats and driving grooves are the order of the day once more on the b-side with 'Made Of Metal' taking a different approach, but still having a vibrant and intoxicating feel to it. Metallic percussion, analogue style drums and a robotic effected vocal. Rattling stabs bob up and down within the heart of the track, complimenting the 'mind, body and soul' vocal stab, and holding the track together nicely. Not quite as devastating as 'Open Your Soul', but a solid and well produced track none the less.

As already mentioned, René's groove led tendencies have brought him recognition, and as long as he keeps finding ways to engineer and create new ways of pushing his chunky sound, then his records will always find their way into a few dj boxes, where this one will wait until his next release on Deep Focus falls through my letterbox.