Album Review: Will Holland – Digitally Enhanced Volume Six


Will Holland – Digitally Enhanced Volume Six
Genre: Trance/House | Label: Enhanced Music | Released Date: August 6th

On August 6th trance fans can rejoice: the 6th installment of the critically acclaimed compilation series Digitally Enhanced will hit shelves. This two disk album features 33 tracks that are beautifully mixed together by the man, the icon, Will Holland. The album features 25 unreleased exclusives, making this the most talked about album of 2013 (wait, it WASN’T Kidz Bop 24?)

CD One pairs the likes of label favourites Estiva, Juventa and Daniel Kandi with exciting new Enhanced signings Johan Vilborg, Nic Toms and Thomas Hayes, as the mix progresses from modern progressive trance through to big room cuts, seeing further massive exclusives from Jaco, jjoo, Karanda, LTN and Adam Szabo, and of course an appearance from Enhanced commanders Tritonal.

CD Two opens with piano laden progressive, from Matt Fax, Juventa and Speed Limits, building to main room trance from Ost & Meyer and 7 Skies along with label debuts from Aruna and Eco, before a heady climax involving favourites Suncatcher, Falcon, Temple One and Daniel Kandi, who typify the adored uplifting end of the Enhanced musical spectrum. Don’t be surprised to hear most of these tracks filling clubs for the fall and winter seasons as each one has standalone potential to be a #1 track.

Now, I was lucky enough to get to listen to the album for a preview and all I can say is wow. If I didn’t see the track list below, I wouldn’t have believed that this wasn’t one large song. The brilliance of Will Holland shows through in every song in making it sound like one giant concept album.

This entire album could be a soundtrack to a movie; opening up with space explorers coming over the horizon they land on a foreign planet. They get out and start looking around for signs of intelligent life and stumble upon a pristine utopia sculpted out of space marble. They start to walk in and explore (that’s what explorers are all about) when they get stopped by the cities security. They are seen as invaders because of their foreign nature and the guards attempt to capture them. Most of the crew gets away except for their lovable sidekick.

The crew spends the next song plotting a way to free their friend when they hear cries for help. This is when they stumble upon the love interest, the damsel in distress, as she is about to be eaten by a space warthog (scary stuff, believe me). They save her and enlist her help in saving their friend. She explains that the fortress is impenetrable, and if only they looked more like townsfolk they can get in. But, there was a huge celebration going on that night, and everyone in the city would be attending so security would be lax. They devise that it is on this night they will go in and save their friend; nothing could go wrong, right?

As in the Pixar theory, all my article ramblings happen in the same universe. While our crew is saving their sidekick friend, the reception inside is welcoming back the war heroes from the Brown & Gammon article. At the end of CD One, the crew is reunited with their friend just as rockets are crashing into the outer walls and the invasion begins.

CD Two is about how the unlikely heroes who were labeled outcasts fight back against the invading forces. Because they are seen as outcasts and would be considered enemies the crew doubles back to their ship and enters battle stations. They head over to the city where they see laser turrets helplessly firing at the invading ships. They swoop in and start firing on their own accord, all the while avoiding fire from the city they’re trying to defend. Just as it seems like they are starting to get the upper hand they are shot out of the sky. They crash in the city and are swarmed by guards. They are about to be finished off when in comes the damsel. It’s revealed that she’s really the planet’s princess and that they are her friends. They explain the situation to the King and the general and they agree that the invasion doesn’t stop here, that someone must take the fight to them. The general’s men are wounded and tired from two campaigns, and their ranks are scattered. Our heroes decide that this is their movie and that it will be them to save the planet.

The king agrees to lend them their most prized fighter craft (as long as they PROMISE to return it) and sends them off. Before they leave the love interests have a sappy feels moment and they’re on their way. When they get into space they see there’s a couple hundred ships surrounding the planet getting ready to invade. They pinpoint the mother ship and covertly board it. They get into the engine room where the macho gunner guy has a brief moment of weakness. Why should they save this planet that tried to kill them and hurt their friend? The gunner and leader have a falling out which ends in a fist fight and the gunner leaving to join the other side. With the charges planted, the team regretfully leaves their friend, deciding that darkness had already decided his fate. Thy return to the planet and are treated as heroes, as they mourn the loss of their friend. Roll Credits.

Alright, that sounds like a pretty bad-ass movie, right? Well it was all made possible by this trance filled house album. Seriously, this whole album is one beautiful concept piece of art and shouldn’t be broken up into tracks. It enacts beauty and emotion seamlessly, taking your hand and guiding you through space and wonder, taking you to worlds you never would have imagined. Will Holland has perfected his craft to give us this golden album, and on August 6th it can be yours.

Tracklist:

CD One

1. Johan Vilborg – Expressions (Original Mix)
2. Estiva & Johan Vilborg – Mondays (Original Mix)
3. Juventa feat. Erica Curran – Move Into Light (Original Mix)
4. Nic Toms – Velvet (Original Mix)
5. AWD – In Time (Original Mix)
6. Vitodito & Daga – What We Did (Original Mix)
7. Timur Shafiev – Take Everything (Original Mix)
8. Jan Martin feat. Hysteria! – There’s You (LTN Remix)
9. Thomas Hayes – Release (Original Mix)
10. Alex Larichev – Smile Me (Original Mix)
11. Adam Szabo & Johan Vilborg – Two To One (Original Mix)
12. Jaco – Dam Square (Original Mix)
13. jjoo – Bittersweet (Original Mix)
14. Karanda – Kingpin (Original Mix)
15. Estiva – Teddybeat (Original Mix)
16. Daniel Kandi & Jack Rowan – Arigatou (Original Mix)
17. Tritonal feat. Underdown – Bullet That Saved Me (Festival Mix)
18. Estiva – Dinodrums (Original Mix)

CD Two

1. Matt Fax – Barr (Digitally Enhanced Intro Mix)
2. Juventa – The Strip (Original Mix)
3. Speed Limits – Offshore (Original Mix)
4. Mehrad feat. Kelly Siew – Lonely (Sebastian Weikum Remix)
5. Ost & Meyer – Gandhi (Original Mix)
6. Aruna – Reason To Believe (Steve Kaetzel Original Mix)
7. 7 Skies -Vice (Original Mix)
8. Store N Forward – Schnitzel (Original Mix)
9. Eco & Carly Burns – Hurt (Extended Vocal Mix)
10. Cardinal feat. Arielle Maren – Stronger (Original Mix)
11. Max Braiman & Dan Stone – Submerge (Original Mix)
12. Temple One – Illusions (Original Mix)
13. Steve Brian pres. Agulo feat. David Berkeley – Blood And The Wine (Suncatcher Remix)
14. JayB – Pegasus (Daniel Kandi Remix)
15. Suncatcher & Falcon – Hashtable (Original Mix)