The Time Frequency - Dominator 2 mp3

Coming a full 14 years on from Dominator, a lot rested on this release to attempt to bring The Time Frequency back to some form of credibility. Having released material only very sporadically since the "final" single Dreamscape '94, and that material being patchy at best, Dominator 2 was the perfect launch pad to demonstrate what the Glaswegian act could achieve a full decade and a half on from their (or to be more precise, his, The Time Frequency being in essence solo producer Jon Campbell) heyday.

The album starts in quite epic fashion, taking the intro directly from Depeche Mode's Stripped but we'll let that slide. Xlerator is a fast paced euphoric trance track, which still has hints of the classic Time Frequency sound (piano, choral pads). It does sound quite generic of 2001 Dutch trance, but thanks to a strong melody it is enjoyable.

United enters very smoothly (it should be noted that this album is "mixed", unlike Dominator 1994). Again, epic pads are the flavour but a gospel-tinged vocal is introduced. I guess the best way to describe this track would be a cross between Sash! and Ian Van Dahl.

Track three, Praying For Miracles, continues in much the same fashion. Autotune is pretty much in plain evidence, and the melody has been ripped from Floyd's 2000 trance anthem Come 2 Gether, but still it's a nice pop-trance tune.

Here Comes The Rain Again is, yes, a cover of the Eurythmics classic. What's notable is that the Time Frequency classic New Emotion basically got it's name from the lyrics of this track, so it's nice that T.T.F. acknowledge this fact. The cover version itself is pretty authentic to the original track, obviously sped up quite a degree.

Sanctified is another euphoric trance track with a strong vocal, but again the melody appears to have been lifted wholesale from another track (in this case, Dejure's 1999 anthem Sanctuary).

Then comes track six, Stone Cold. Yes, it's another cover version, this time of the 2004 Bossanova track. So what does the Time Frequency remix sound like? Well, it's a more melodic effort, ditching the original's driving tech-trance brilliance for a more traditional approach. It works, but it's hard not to have the original Bossanova version in mind at all times. Jon's vocals are very good however (they always are when he sings). He does a sterling job at replicating the song.

The Day After is filler. Granted, it contains classic T.T.F. sounds but its melody sounds tired and to be honest it sounds like a M.I.K.E. / Push b-side played too fast.

Just A Mirage is basically what you would get if Motiv-8 remixed Agnelli & Nelson, but again the vocal is very strong and it really keeps the track above water.

Soul Searching begins in a very Lange circa 2000 fashion, and quickly fades into predictable and forgettable trance-by-numbers.

The Sonic Cathedral is actually a track made by Jon Campbell and his production partner Steve Nelson in 2001 under the moniker The Dubious Brothers. It takes its cue from the Warp Brother's camp of spoken word breakdown into acidic buildup and continues as such, albeit with a less Hard Trance feel.

We Are One is to all intents and purposes a Milk Inc. track. It's not a rip off of Walk On Water but it sure makes very similar sounds.

Now to the final two tracks.

Braveheart Theme. Yes, it's a take on the DJ Sakin & Friends version. No, not the big Lange remix but actually the original! You can actually still hear the pseudo-acid lines in it.

Finally there is a cover version of Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence.

Again, Jon is great on vocals. He's not Dave Gahan (obviously) but he does a good job much like the vocalist who guests for Gigi D'Agostino (whom I assume is Carl from Clubhouse). The track itself it pretty much a carbon copy of the original.

So, that's it. Not much originality. If ANY. Am I disappointed? No, not really. I am used to it by now. The Time Frequency were my favourite band when I was a teenager, and their output up to 1994 was amazing.

Post 1994, Jon's material has been weak. Devoid of ideas, he appears to think that basically ripping other tracks off counts as some form of acceptable behaviour.

This would be wrong in the best of scenarios, but coupled with such a lazy approach to production it really breaks my heart.