Marco Verkuylen occupies an prominent position in the history of dance culture with merited credit for influencing the course of trance. A true pioneer, Marco introduced electro influences and ballshaking techno to the genre to form a unique (but oft imitated) sound ultimately labelled as tech-trance. From his Combi:Nations compilation series to his awesome 200V album, Marco V has brought fans worldwide a veritable truckload of dancefloor behemoths over the past decade. This month sees the release of his third studio album, the intriguingly titled Propaganda Part 1. Let’s take a closer look at the latest chapter in the history of one of dance music’s true gents.

The album begins with Unprepared with a driving electro lead surprisingly similar to Fischerspooner’s Emerge. A solid if unspectacular mainstream track, Marco draws in an annoying male vocal that follows Karl Hyde’s signature sentence delivery. Taking the baton, Treviso opens with more intent and sits closer to the work Marco has been co-producing with Sander Van Doorn over the past twelve months. Snappy and tight, this is more of an early-night atmosphere builder than anything else. Solitary Confinement keeps pace with its predecessor and takes a similar though superior path along the darker side of tech-trance in an album that is fast losing my attention. The recognisable rising synth of the peaktime number Coma Aid is playful yet strong but frustration remains at the short album edit which has passed by in three and a half minutes.

To my massive relief, the album starts to pick up with the wide driving electro-trance of Chemicals dropping nicely into The Man Who Was There – an introspective Balaeric sunrise of a track which shimmers into a gorgeous fuzzy synth refrain. Marco takes a detour into thoughtful prog-trance territory with Ritual Putrification which rumbles along like a trendy Xpander although the unnecessary chant distracts. Digital Identity roars straight from the starting line into an electric pattern, pitched up and useful with a interesting structure and short breakdowns. Driving on relentlessly, with great use of sounds and effects, this is much more modern and mature from Marco and the best track on the album by some distance. The sneaky discordant loops dissolve into A Journey Into Sound which keeps up the pace and threat combining hollow but tough tech with solid claps and a wonderful building riff. The bouncy tech-trance of Counterpoint with a self-conscious house wiggle and prog melody lead us to the finish before the ping-pong beat of the new WRC Theme snaps me straight in. An exciting melodic riff and rumbling bassline push on before the track opens up into a nice break and returns into the manic pong rally wonderfully.

Propaganda Part 1 is a strange beast. Unusually for an album in this genre, there are no cringing moments of cheese, nor any tracks that sound completely out of place. The whole affair is tightly produced and each track sequences into each other gaplessly. My main quarrel with the composition is that it is too safe – sure there are some really good moments, but Marco’s reputation very rightly precedes him, and for a guy that produced Indicator, Simulated and Red Blue Purple this album screams middle of the road. A little bit too comfortable for any real sense of inspiration, the album is a worthy offering, but I am constantly frustrated by an artist who inspired SVD yet all too often comes off sounding like the student rather than the master.