So, it’s that time of year again – the divine leader himself Armin van Buuren has returned, resurrected with a mighty compilation that’s expected to capture his weekly two-hour radio show, the epic energy of his legendary DJ sets, to showcase tunes from both polished professionals as the up-and-comers, as well as offering an encapsulating snapshot of the many different sounds that make up the trance scene.

In short, it’s expected to be everything to everybody – but it’s Armin we’re talking about here. The same messianic force that holds tens of thousands in the palm of his hand, keeping them there for hours at end, with such divine reverence it’s practically impossible to review his releases without wheeling out a cavalcade of hackneyed religious metaphors (zOMG). Our lord has his work cut out for him though; while he led the trance scene through a creative renaissance a few years ago, it’s proved tough to maintain the momentum. Has he summoned another miracle with A State of Trance 2010?

First up, we’re back on those sun kissed Ibiza beaches with Armin’s On The Beach mix, his take on the deeper side of his beloved genre. Thankfully, unlike much of the lukewarm pop-trance that dominated last year’s installment, here we see Armin back in proper progressive territory, showing just how good he is at selecting those deeper melodic moments. Opening on a particularly lavish note, with the deep basslines and lush arrangements building into the unmistakable vocals of Susannah, the vibe is taken deeper still with Luigi Luisini’s Who We Are. It’s all pretty emotive stuff.

Mat Zo gives the mix its finest moment with Near The End. Starting off like a typical deeper trance tune, complete with a luxurious breakdown, it proceeds to wallop you with the sort of cranking minimal bassline Booka Shade were sporting during their Movements era. The UK prodigy shows trance is still capable of bringing plenty of surprises; it’s just a crying shame there’s not more unexpected moments like this.

Armin draws on everything you’d expect from a mix pitched at the deeper end of the progressive trance spectrum – sumptuous vibes, smooth transitions, an accomplished flow – but by the time you hear the strings being plucked on one of those simpering Balaeric guitars for about the tenth time, you’ll risk sacrilege with a roll of the eyes and a hiss of annoyance at our beloved leader. On the whole though, Armin is on form here.

Heading over to the ‘In The Club’ mix, where all of the life changing 3am moments are happening, we throw open the doors of the club to be welcomed by the deep bliss of Rank1’s mix of Safe (Wherever You Are). Intent on locking your attention into the lasers shooting out over him as he raises his arms into a dramatic Jesus pose, Armin punches out two of his own massive productions – his stomping electro-tech take on Faithless’s Not Going Home, as well as a tough slice of melodic tech from his Gaia alias. Again, the crowd is bedazzled.

There’s a nice amount of deep trance in the first half of the mix, peaking with Eco’s sublime Love, but the rush isn’t maintained as he soon wafts into overdone melodrama from the likes of Roger Shah and Sebastian Brandt. We’ve heard it many times before. He puts this aside for some proper euphoria with Alex M.O.R.P.H’s mix of Sun In The Winter – and it’s Armin at his hands-in-the-air best.

However, it’s not matched again until Simon Patterson’s twisted tech-trance masterpiece Taxi closes off the mix, a tune packing so many unexpected twists and turns that it knocks you for six the first time you hear it. The mix would have benefited from a few more curveballs like this; but as it stands, there’s simply not enough surprises.

While a lot of DJ/producers have the luxury of sticking to their own corner of the trance scene, Armin is the glue that holds it all together – there’s no other DJ as versatile, and technically he’s up there with the very best in the world. The flipside is that each new edition of A State of Trance comes with a huge burden of expectation, so it’s not surprising he doesn’t nail it every time.

That said, ASOT2010 is a solid collection of music that does an admirable job of capturing a truly thriving scene. While it might not summon the focused polish of his DJ sets, or be as groundbreaking as some of the earlier editions, it comes close enough. Oh ye trance faithful, now is the time to pray for the return of ‘Armin Only’ in Australia. It was prophesised after all, yeah?

A State Of Trance 2010 is out now on 405 Recordings through Stomp.