The Beat Surrender

Ultrasonic are a duo that have been round for years on the rave scene in both the UK and mainland Europe. Aside from the track Annihalating Rhythm that this album is named after you’ve probably not had much call to buy an album by them or have known that you were dancing your tits off to them in some sweaty warehouse in the late nineties.

The single was as near as they’ve ever got (or likely to get) to a mainstream commercial hit, it’s well known in the harder dance circles and has been a firm favourite of several DJ’s for years now. The truth though is that Ultrasonic have made more of an impression as a live act than they have on record.

Seven years ago they brought out a best of album which tied up everything up to that point; this though is the first album to surface since then. As you would expect from them (if you are aware of them), it’s a fairly mixed bag of stuff across the thirteen tracks on offer, both in the styles used (hard house, techno, hardcore and vocal anthems are the mainstay, with electro and breaks also surfacing) and in the quality of the tracks.

It has to be said from my point of view I find hard house a strange concept for listening to at home, for all the same reasons I’ve never been into heavy metal, listening to this sort of music you need it up pretty damn live and in the right circumstances, sitting in a small fairly confined room listening to it is more likely to give me a headache than rush off to buy the follow up album.

Things start brightly enough with a bombastic Chemical Brothers style beat and distorted vocals on Go Psycho. The second track Flatliner is a little messier as the vocals are shouted over the top of a basic beat. Possibly the best track on the album is up next, Immoral is a cracking dance track that I would really love to hear out on a night out clubbing in Leeds.

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