Ant Brooks – Insidious [BLOK Records]

Artist: Ant Brooks – Title: Insidious
Label: BLOK Records – Cat No: BLK002

Review by Carl Antony
Genre: Hard Techno

For those who may be unfamiliar, BLOK Records are a new label that form part of the Groovant music empire. Headed by Adriana Vega, you can tell that this label will mean business, and become a staple of many hard techno sets, in the coming months! This release sees the techno goliath, Ant Brooks, delve into his darker side and is accompanied by two remixes from Volodia Rizak and Kryptonit.

Ant Brooks – ‘Insidious’ (Original Mix) : This is darkness personified. Stomping kicks pound their way through the mix of this track paving the way for twisted synths, eerie echoes and an overall feel of a nightmare/horror movie! An absolute delight of dark, pounding, lose yourself in the rave techno. This one is a must for the real dark, hard techno fans!!

Ant Brooks – ‘Insidious’ (Volodia Rizak remix) : This remix by Volodia Rizak is superb! Clanging, huge, driven, hard, mechanical drums filter out into some beautiful deep sounds which then builds to bring the heavy drums straight back in! This time the sounds are aided along by some deliciously nightmarish crow sounds. Make no mistakes, this remix is MASSIVE!!

Ant Brooks – ‘Insidious’ (Kryptonit remix) : This version has a very straight, disciplined, 4×4 feel to it. The strict drum pattern drops into the eerie feel that the original delivers. Although this mix feels a bit more minimal in terms of approach and sounds, it compliments the release perfectly by giving the listener something more to think about.

This is a great release from Ant Brooks and BLOK Records with something for fans of every type of techno. Great work from all involved and I shall look forward to hearing many more releases from BLOK Records in the future!