Reviewed by Andy Cooper

Travelling down the M4, I had to pause the CD player. I kept hearing alarming squeaks. Then a rumble. Then both. What was happening to my normally smooth cruising motor? The Devout Artists had hi-jacked my ear drums and driven me to distraction. But they made a long journey more bearable, as every mile provided another minute of interesting rhythms and synthetic soundscapes. This collection is basically on a similar vein to volume one, but more up to date: independent trance and drum'n'bass from Europe and USA. Only one artist appears on both: the almost legendary Joey Davis (aka Faith Massive). He provides two contrasting drum'n'bass workouts: one smooth and chilled, one as frenetic as Goldie ever got. Other “known” artists on this compilation are England's Doug Ross and Lee Jackson. All other contributors will be anonymous to most, but still worthwhile investigating. Funk'n'Flex provide an energetic jazzy vibe with lyrics describing the joy of Heaven, while Tru_Function provide some progressive trance with one of the phattest bass sounds around. The album as a whole provides 12 high quality, if not ground breaking, dance tracks with enough variety to stay interesting throughout. And to top it all, when some lyrics appear, they are generally faith building and inspirational.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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