At the turn of the 21st century, progressive music underwent a seismic shift in direction. The trancey elements that had been the mainstay of the genre through the late 90s disappeared, and were replaced by a form of house music that became deeper and slower and more introspective with every new release. The master of the downshift in speed was John Digweed. Most who tried to copy him failed; progressive was lost in a desert wilderness, with producers and DJs seemingly bereft of ideas. Then along came a progressive messiah in the form of Steve Lawler. He preached a new gospel: he showed us that we did not have to worship ‘plod house’, and instead he preached a brand new form of powerhouse tribal music that morphed into driving energetic progressive, and occasionally mind bending filthy trance. The faithful hailed the messiah and there was much rejoicing in the land of prog….

I always expect Lawler to come up with something dark, and his latest release Viva London certainly is that. Gone, however, is the trademark frenetic energy, to be replaced by an insanely deep feel that, on first listen, is almost painful to sit through. If all the music in the world was an ocean, then Steve is taking us on a ride with a submarine that has dived so deep that we’re scraping the bottom of our vessel on the wreck of the Titanic! The bottom of the ocean may seem like a dark and dull world, with unimaginable pressure attempting to crush you, but once you learn to let the tidal forces take you on their slow ride there is so much about it that is damn beautiful.

On the first disc, Steve begins the journey with a seven-minute opener that is filled with a menacing anticipation, but very little else. Plumonito by ZaP has slow, shuddering bass which signals that terror and mayhem just might be around the corner. The tension is palpable. Things continue in this vein for the first four or five tracks, with almost imperceptible changes in tempo, and rarely a movement in the key – just a rumbling darkness that holds that menace of unseen danger. Then, slowly but surely, the tempo increases and with it comes a little more light, as more and more melody magically appears. By the time we reach Paparazzi’s Reshuffle the pressure has been released, and we’re cruising through a world teeming with sounds that weave around us like giant sea snakes.

Then, just when you think you’re getting a handle on the journey, Steve steers us into a ten minute patch of turbulence that throws us from side to side as the bizarre yet wonderful sounds of To The Bone take hold of us. For a moment it seems as if we’re going down, as the tempo comes to a virtual halt and we plummet once again into much deeper waters. After this, the first disc doesn’t recover its tempo; and worse still, Steve seems to somewhat lose direction. It’s as if the turbulence of To The Bone destroyed his sense of direction and left him drifting aimlessly. It’s a shame, because up to this point the ride has been a compelling one. So far I’ve been intrigued, challenged and tantalised by Steve’s deeper direction on this disc, but also a tiny bit disappointed by its lack of energy. Steve usually brings a real sense of fun to his music that is lacking here. But I’m more than willing to trade energy for a clever and thoughtful piece of extremely dark and deep progressive programming that gets better each time I hear it. But the time for clever is over – now it’s time to have fun.

Did I say we were about to have fun? Well, by fun, what I really mean is a horror ride on the high seas with the living dead aboard Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl. The music on the second disc is terrifying in its mind shattering darkness and while it’s (again) a much slower journey than I was expecting, it still contains enough naughty moments to make it a highly enjoyable experience. Things start innocuously enough with the surprisingly downbeat Fluffer by Joel Mull. Now I’m not 100 per cent sure if your understanding of the word ‘fluffer’ is the same as mine, but I promise you that you do not want anyone from this ship coming to “clean ze pool”!

Then a terrible thing happens, a tragedy. Our ship runs over a sea creature in the form of the second track called Allegro Energico. It’s amazing how pitiful the sound of a creature dying is, but why anyone would want to record it for posterity is beyond me. If you don’t believe me have a listen. Eight painful minutes of complete and utter misery – if I never hear it again it will be too soon. Thankfully, normality resumes (as much as Steve is ever normal) and once again we’re under way – in style! Instinto Primario is a thundering track that positively crackles with energy. The tribal drum beats slam into you with intense ferocity and your body begins to shake and shudder to the rhythm of the bass. I love this music! It’s fitting that, while listening to this music, I imagine myself on board the Black Pearl at midnight, because there is no more fitting sound for a group of the living dead than the bone jarring bass lines of RibCage by Dubfire. I can only imagine what that track would sound like on a huge sound system!

Whilst the music is intense, to this point it is still slightly lacking in Lawler’s trademark energy. Steve tries to rectify this with the brilliant Confused by Simon Baker, but then he follows with the annoyingly average Long Distance by Bushwacka!, bringing everything crashing to a complete halt. It’s worthy of nothing more than an intro track or the second track on a mix at best, and its placement here spoils the flow of this CD. In all honesty it takes Steve too long to recover, but slowing the pace down does allow him the opportunity to mix in one of the absolute highlights on this compilation in the shape of one of his own tunes called Violet. This is a deep progressive tune of such filthy brilliance that I am completely and utterly smitten with it. I just wish it’d been placed much earlier in the mix to make way for some more of the truly amazing energetic tracks that he has pushed right to the end of the second mix.

I do love the music on these two discs, but I think that it needed a touch more tempo than Steve has allowed. So my summation has to be that Steve isn’t really progressive’s messiah after all; to the contrary, his choice of dark energy proves he is a very, very naughty boy! Remember boys and girls, the music may be dark, but that doesn’t stop us looking on the bright side. Enjoy!

So are you digging Lawler’s take on the minimal/tech sound? Check out this clip taken at his beloved The End in London.