Sacred Court Italy Vinyl & CDs

Review: Hard techno is very much back in vogue right now, all across Europe and beyond. Sacred Court taps into that demand with various artists EP that is edgy, raw and effective. It is Dexphase that kicks off with 'Stay True To Yourself' layering up wooden hits, icy hi hats and slamming drums. KOZLOV's 'Darkness' has real dystopian menace to it with the wiry pads that bring unsettling energy to the distorted basslines and hammering drums. Raxeller's 'Corrupted' is hyperderiven with kicks stacked up almost on top of each other as moody trance pads light up the backdrop. Tham's 'Never The Right Time' is a fourth and final highly destructive weapon to keep the rave kids marching.

Review: SNTS and Sacred Court are staunch fixtures of the German hard techno circuit, and this reputation is more than topped up on this latest addition to the repertoire, 'Everything In Distance'. Taking on a vampiric theme, titles like 'I Absorb You', 'Biting My Skin' and 'Double Heart' land like clawed blows to the neck, confounding with their unrelenting kick thrums and surrounding industrial atmospheres, gothic and miasmic as they come. More texture than usual is heard on this record than most pummelling-techno artisans abide, with the four-by-four kick drive almost sounding to have completely gotten lost in the fog by the time we reach track three. Listen if you dare.