Artist: Total Confusion Vs Somnus Corp
Title: Sunset / Sistema De Fe
Label: Intrinsic Records
By: Jason Calvert | 26 September 2005
Tracklist:

• A: Total Confusion - Sunset
• B: Somnus Corp - Sistema De Fe

Total Confusion Vs Somnus Corp "Sunset / Sistema De Fe"

In the past, I have personally found Intrinsic to be a bit hit and miss with their releases, never getting into a consistent groove. But with their last massive outing from Christian Cambas on "Coded Love", which received a lot of play from myself, I was expecting a lot more from this release. With "Sistema De Fe" being the stronger of the two tracks, it still does not help bring the release's overall score up at all.

"Sunset" is certainly the weaker of the two. After setting up a familiar progressive trance bassline, it brings in a melody which has a very airy feel to it and lacks any sense of coherence or direction. After a sloppy breakdown, the track really falls apart as it tries to add more to the already disjoint melody, causing it to become a muddle of small noises wishing they could be classed as a melody. A truly sad moment for Intrinsic.

Thankfully, "Sistema De Fe" makes up for "Sunset" in many ways, and I think that listening to it straight after "Sunset" makes it sound a lot better than it actually is. The strong percussion is complimented by a pulsing bassline to set up some true direction. Some small effects are layered in over this, and some whispering vocals help set up a haunting atmosphere. However there is nothing magnificent about the composition, and it has a slightly underdeveloped feel, leading me to believe that some nice remixing could polish this track up. But unfortunately, the version presented here does nothing for my senses.

I'm not too sure what has gone wrong with this release for Intrinsic, as from their past releases one can definitely prove that they are capable of much more. It's been about a year since I last got my hands on an Intrinsic release, and after this long break I was hoping they had been working on some gems to make an explosive return. Hopefully their next outing from Sunkissed will put them back on the right track.