Not a terrible effort from Marc Simz in view of how poor the trance scene around late 2011 - early 2012 was, but still a weak chapter in the ITWT series. Some tracks are quite nice, and some are surprisingly listenable for the black hole early 2010s-proglifting style they were hitting home, but the series by this time was very much a shadow of its former self. The next installment was a complete disgrace to music in general, before the 2014 trance revolution kicked in and brought some semblance of dignity back to the series with ITWT020 (which was still a little sterile, but at least sterile trance is better than trouse).On to the music, the opening track is very nice, and the mix is peppered with decent efforts. Stand out tracks are EDU, Popov's remix, Yuri Kane's mix of Cosmic Gate, Saint X and Eco with a tip of the hat to Juventa at the end. In terms of the post-ITWT011 releaes, i would rank this below 017 but above 016 (which was in a similar style) and way above 019.Good tracks:EDU - iCareFaruk Sabanci - As Faces Fade (Alexander Popov Remix)Cosmic Gate - Open Your Heart (Yuri Kane Remix)Saint X - Gabriel

I agree with the previous review, the tracks are nice but never really suprising or innovative. And indeed..Geert Huinink proves his skills once again! Marc Simz made a solid selection but the mixing is really uninspiring and even made me want to skip sections. With an excellent previous mix by Bobina in mind, I am a bit dissapointed by this episode in the overall high quality ITWT series.

I've been a fan of the series ever since my first encounter in 2001, part 6 it was... After that I did my homework and checked out the rest. I was hooked instantly...After the 11th installment the series lost a bit of its glance... But still buying every new episode in the series, I was finally surprised again with parts 16 & 17. Now here is part 18 mixed by Marc Simz. In my opinion you should not judge an album by its cover, which are always very nice on itwt compilations, but on the trackselection, the build up of the mix and ofcourse mixing skills.The trackselection on itwt18 is decent. the tracks are all good, but nothing fancy. Accept for track 13 & 14.Virtual Vault delivers a very nice peaktime trancer to the mix, as for Geert Huinink's track... That is just a ch00n with an old school '99-'02 feel to it. This is the absolute highlight of the mix for me! I'm just a sucker for that oldschool uplifting sound.The build up of this itwt installment is a bit weird if you ask me... For example, the first track is a pretty solid opener. A good track to get you into the mix, but second track is more of a banger I would place at the end of the mix between track 13&14... Marc Simz' mixingskills in this mix are average... On some point even dull... The mixing could've been done way more compact. In fact I think you could fit a whole extra track on this album if you did mix it more compact. With the result of the mix being much more suprising, alive and ready to take you on a journey!But sadly it is not..Its a good snapshot of how trance sounds these days, but if you're looking for an exciting journey with a dj that takes you by your hand and guides you through the mix... I suggest you keep on looking and try part 16 or 17. Or the older parts.