This is one of those four trackers that’ll stamp an endless smile to anyone remotely into old school acid/hard trance. Packed with joyous energy, Arpeggiators jump right at it and deliver a swirling clash of trancey leads and vintage acid, remixing a track by the legendary Oliver Lieb. Compared to the original, the remix is less floating, and relies more on climax lead acid leads than on pure melody work, which is more along the lines of what I like.Acrid Abeyance follow with what is one of their achievements, which is saying quite a lot. Starting out kind of minimal, with just the original’s basic lead melody and percussion, the music gains in vigor and appeal as it progresses – and patience pays off – because from the middle onwards, the track gets injected with the most ridiculously intense acid sequence, driving this gem right through all nine circles of hell, and then deciding to call it quits once they inaugurate the tenth. The emphasis here is on pure energy, the aggression and full luxury this track reaches once it comes to the core part is simply amazing. Carefully built, pulling the listener steadily and then letting it rip with all might and muscle. One of my old school favorites.Instant Zen’s Plutonia is the one which hasn’t really aged with grace, and that is in my opinion due to the lead melody, which was THE lead to talk about back in the day, but now it comes across as something snatched off a 70’s Dario Argento soundtrack. Those key changes are pretty cheesy and overly dramatic. I can see how this worked quite well over fifteen years ago, but now it’s good for lonely nostalgic sessions. Despite of it all, it is a valuable treasure in many old school collection, and the remix is sure better than the original, mainly due to heavy and skilled use of acid, and the way it enhances the melody work.The last track is a stormer as well. It does start kind of typical, small intro with dreamy sounds, then a thumping 4x4 kick with an acidic bass line, but what it all comes do is the mid part here: shuffled melodies intermingle with hypnotic acid lines dashing at the speed of light. No idea where they came from & no idea where they are heading. True old school acid confusion that’ll have you scratching your head long after it’s over. Next stop oblivion.Three out of four tracks are forceful acid vehicles giving you free, one way rides to threeothreedom. Miss out at your own risk. The tracks by Acrid Abeyance and Mandala rank among their most impressive work ever.