Celebrating a phenomenal 12 years, Sydney’s premier trance and hard dance club night Sublime has released one of the year’s best trance and hard dance mix compilation albums with an explosive triple disc treat Sublime XII: 1996-2008. Arguably Australia’s leading club night, Sublime has built its legendary reputation and rapport with its loyal punters through years of quality trance and hard dance events. Their weekly Friday night parties at the clubbing meccah that is Home Nightclub has provided Sydney punters with the crème de le crème of international and Australian dance artists, and this marks their 12th anniversary with ‘Classics’ and ‘Upfront Anthems’ mixes from their resident DJs over the first two discs, while up n’ coming Dutch superstar Ronald Van Gelderen driving things home with the third aptly named ‘International’ disc.

Sublime residents Peewee Ferris, Nik Fish and Jumping Jack taking the audience through a trip down memory lane with the opening ‘Classics’ disc. From start to finish this is an absolute eargasm, with timeless classics like Dirt Devils The Drill, Ferry Corsten Punk, Darude Sandstorm and The Prodigy Voodoo People all highlights of a super impressive offering. But the real peak of the set is Peewee Ferris’s own immortal single Genesis. It’s safe to say this track was a defying moment in Australian dance music, bringing trance to the forefront of our scene and catapulting Peewee to international stardom. While this track may be older than some punters who’ll be reading this review, the spine tingling impact this track has, will never die. The trio close a super tight mix off with Commander Tom Are Am Eye, one of the all-time rave classics from the mid to late 90s.

Sublime’s “newer” resident DJs Amber Savage, Archie, Pulsar and Suae, take control of disc 2, with a stunning selection of the latest ‘Upfront Anthems’ in circulation. The disc kicks off with Ferry Corsten’s Rock Your Body, a classic in its very own sense. Following the tech-trance ride is Marcel Woods’ seminal floor-filler Advanced. From here we are taken on a joint jolting ride of stunning hard trance and hardstyle, with Luca Antolini, Derb, Masif DJs, Styles & Breeze and Blutonium Boy just some of the international heavy-hitters featured in the mix, while there’s time for Archie and Amber Savage to give their single Apocalypse some airplay. But the hands-down highlight is the Acid Maniacs remix of Dave Joy’s hard-trance dance-floor destroyer, First Impression 2008. For me, this single track encapsulates the spirit and energy of Sublime. A hard, thumping, dirty, dark, euphoric, energetic piece of musical pure bliss. A real treat.

Last but not least is the Dutch destroyer Ronald Van Gelderen. He’s one of the up n’ coming superstars of the international trance scene, with some thrilling production work with the likes of Embrace Me, Crying Out and one of 2007’s biggest anthems Dirty Rocker. He takes the audience on a banging hard trance journey and really comes into his own right form the start of the mix with a hat-trick of head-thumping trancers with Organic by Marco V & Sander Van Doorn, Marcel Woods’ Beautiful Mind 2008 and his own Dirty Rocker. This 12-minute splash is Gelderen at his electrifying best.

Whenever a mix compilation album features a disc by both Australian and international artists, you generally tend to mark the overseas artist harder. For this compilation I quite seriously cannot split the three performances. All three mixes are of the upmost quality, right across technical mixing, track programming and execution. To say Sublime XII 1996 – 2008 is one of the best hard dance releases of the year is quite the understatement – it is the best I’ve heard this year and it ticks all the boxes. An absolute treat.

Check out the tracklisting…

Disc 1: Sublime Classics, Selected by Peewee Ferris, Nik Fish & Jumping Jack
1. Intro SYDNEY SUBLIME
2. Kernkraft 400 – ZOMBIE NATION
3. Dirt Devils – THE DRILL
4. Rank 1 – AWAKENING (Cosmic Gate Mix)
5. Darude – SANDSTORM
6. Peewee Ferris – GENESIS (Club Mix)
7. Ferry Corsten – PUNK
8. DJ Dean – BALLANATION EPISODE 2
9. BeXta – THE LIGHT (Nik Fish Voodoo Remix)
10. Tiesto – ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
11. Alex Fakey – PAINTED BLACK
12. Southend with Nik Fish – THE WINNER IS… 2000 (Nik Fish & Jumpin’ Jack Remix)
13. Yakooza – COCAINE
14. The Prodigy – VOODOO PEOPLE
15. Peewee vs. John Ferris – TIME TO MAKE THE FLOOR BURN (Nik Fish E-Pic Remix)
16. Commander Tom – ARE AM EYE

Disc 2: Sublime Upfront Anthems, selected by Amber Savage & Archie with Pulsar & Suae

1. Ferry Corsten – ROCK YOUR BODY (Extended Mix)
2. Marcel Woods – ADVANCED
3. Archie vs. Amber Savage – APOCOLYPSE
4. Walt N Feliz – EXPANSION (DJ Ghost)
5. Luca Antolini – HEAT (Steve Hill vs. Dark By Design Remix)
6. Airbeat One Project – AIRBEAT ONE (Club Mix)
7. DJ Lee – BITCH (Hard Drive Remix)
8. Real Booty Babes – DERB 08 (Club Mix)
9. Marco Zafarano – GIRLS & BOYS (Essex Mix)
10. Masif DJ’s – HEART OF ASIA (Suae Remix)
11. Styles & Breeze – YOU’RE MY ANGEL (Technikal Remix)
12. Fridge vs. The Hitmen – ANGEL (The Hitmen Club Mix)
13. Dave Joy – FIRST IMPRESSION (Acid Maniacs Remix)
14. Steve Hill / Hardforze / Pulsar feat. Pete Millwood – UNFORGIVEN 2008 (Luca Antolini Remix)
15. Blutonium Boy – ACID OVER SYDNEY (Blutonium Boy & DJ Neo Mix)

Disc 3 Mixed by Ronald van Gelderen

1. Cliff Coenraad & Thomas Hagenbeek – FILTHY RIPPER
2. Leon Bolier pres. Precursor – XD
3. Sander Van Doorn – PURA VIDA
4. Marco V vs. Sander van Doorn – ORGANIC
5. Marcel Woods – BEAUTIFUL MIND 2008
6. Ronald van Gelderen – DIRTY ROCKER
7. Dennis Sheperd & Cold Blue – PRIME OF LIFE (Ronald van Gelderen Remix)
8. Ernesto vs. Bastian – SUPER JUPITER (Ronald van Gelderen Remix)
9. Nic Chagall -WHAT YOU NEED – (Marco V Remix)
10. Ronald van Gelderen – EMBRACE ME (Rank 1 Mix)
11. Jochen Miller – LOST CONNECTION
12. Ronski Speed feat. Aruna – ALL THE WAY (Bissen Remix)
13. Martin Roth & Alex Bartlett – OFF THE WORLD (Gareth Emery Mix)