Infected Mushroom - Converting Vegetarians

Infected Mushroom are back with some new and surprising ideas. This time it’s a double album, a rarity in trance. The album is split into two parts. The first is a standard trance CD with all the latest dancefloor killers from the Infected lab and the second represents their more experimental ideas.
Let’s start with the cover. While the front cover is not something that I would call interesting, the inner sleeve is much better. It’s filled with lyrics and pictures of the guys plus a picture of Michell Adamson, who contributed vocals on three tunes on the second CD. Also you get sticker of the album and BPM list if you wish to use the tunes from the first CD in your DJ sets.
The first CD gives some very good Infected moments like the openind track- Albibeno, with it’s massive twisted sounds and sweet melody that wraps the tune. Hush Mail is more on the dark side. Some monster sounds everywhere. All the familiar Infected ingredients are there, but somehow the salad lacks some salt. Apogifa Night gives me Juno Reactor feeling all the way, especially what they did in the Matrix Reloaded Soundtrack. Strong Symphonic hits and stabs all around. Really spooky if you ask me. Song Pong is next (T4) with more familiar Infected melodies and amazing build up. Gives me a flashback to Nothing Comes Easy from Classical Mushroom. Chaplin comes after and without any samples from the pioneering comedian they give us somewhat slim and minimal tune. Economix (T6) gives another flashback to the Classical Mushroom period with great buildup and 80s synth melodies. Scorpion Frog is yet comes with the same feel, starting off with some sad violins and after a minute explodes into a fast paced groovy assault. The real bomb and innovation comes with Deeply Disturbed (T8) that was co written with the Israeli Rock legend Berri Sakharof. He gives the tune delicious guitar riffs and Infected add all the needed ingredients for a perfect dancefloor killer. Amazing tune. And off course there’s Duvdev chanting on the top. Semi Nice is up next to sooth up the listener for the grand slam. It’s not a chill out number but it’s rather relaxed tune. The final punch comes with Yankopitch, named after the big Hommega boss. This one grows slowly and after two minutes explodes into full scale mayhem. Absolutely fantastic ending tune.

The second CD begins with psy rap. Yes there’s no typo here. It’s P Diddy Duvdev on the mic and he shares with us his idea of the "next step of the revolution”. Given the perspective of a one with open mind I find this tune pretty enjoyable. Hope you do as well. The second track- Elation Station- is great freestyle tune with happy uplifting melodies and some guitar licks courtesy of Crazy D. Drop Out is up next and it was already featured on the Deeply Disturbed CDS. It’s pretty much continues the feeling of the previous tune, with some more guitars, melodies and twisted sounds. Avratz is next and it’s a pretty long tune which is divided into several parts each telling another story. I don’t like it too much personally. Blink (T5) is the time for some vocal input from Michell Adamson. It’s a wicked, almost pop song, which shows how easily Infected Mushroom can produce interesting mainstream material with strong psytrance influences. And off course Michell’s vocals are amazing as always. Shakawkaw is another great tune with sweet guitar parts and amazing melody. Near the end Duvdev joins and mumbles something unrecognizable. Not really good contribution to the flow of the tune but not bad either. Pletzturra (T7) is something totally else. Pianos, Gregorian chants and more mumbling with unbelievably silly country influenced ending. Totally weird. I Wish (T8) is another tune with Duvdev’s singing, but this time it fits really well. The effects on the vocals deserve some sort of an award. Simply amazing. But the tune is not only about effects. Another potentially big pop hit. Ballerium is a tune that was featured on a PC game who's name I don’t really remember. It contains a small part with Michell singing. Overall mediocre number. Selecta (T10) is fast paced tune with guitar riffs and great twisted melodies. Follow up is Illuminaughty which is another tune featuring Michell. This time it’s an absolutely fabulous tune with great words and amazing arrangement. Jeenge starts minimally with Erez Aizen on acoustic guitar and followed by enchanting atmosphering pad sounds. The nirvana ends up in the middle of the second minute. Some dark stabs that suspend the melody which comes back finally after some time. And then it’s a slow buildup with building layers one on another until the final hit. Amazing almost-finish. The last tune is very minimal. It has only basic percussion part leaded by sad piano melody and some airy synths. Soothing end for a highly varied album.

Recomendation:  : This is absolutely a must for IM fans. They haven’t gone commercial, they still do amazing boundary pushing music. Amazing melodies that can only be found with a very little amount of artists nowadays. This CD stands up to the high standards that they have set in the last 5 years. Just Go and buy it.
Favorites: CD1- 1(!!),4,8(!),10(!!); CD2- 2,5,6,8(!),11(!!),12(!!)