Magazine
DJ Mad Dog - A Night of Madness
Label: Traxtorm Records
Unofficial Release date: 18-03-2011 (Release Party)
Official Release Date: 21-03-2011
Catalogue Number: TRAXCD078
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Filippo Calcagni aka DJ Mad Dog is more than a talent. He’s one of todays best mainstream producers, respected by his colleagues and loved by his audience. After 10 years of making kick-ass tracks and performing at raves and events worldwide he has proven to be a man to reckon with. Now Mad Dog has finally finished his first album. A double cd filled with his best tracks, new and old. To celebrate this milestone he decided to start his album release tour in Gemert (Brabant). Where?? Yes just in the middle of F*!cking flat-country-nowhere. We must admit: “It’s a privilege Mad Dog chose our country and a small village with its mega-discotheque ‘Time Out’ to release his album”. No better place than Holland to have a party, or better said: “A Night of Madness”.
The album consists of two cd’s which both contain a specific part of Mad Dog's discography. Disk one holds the present tracks and future releases. The second cd starts off ten years ago and ends in the present. Another difference between both disks has to do with the fact that disk one contains only loose tracks with small vocal interludes added, where disk two contains a small mix.
CD1
Cd1 begins, of course, with the main title track “A Night of Madness”. This already lengendary track, played many times an evening, is ideal to start a set. The main synths and classical vocals, together with the classical elements, make it an euphoric happening. Hands up, shout your lungs out when this track is played and go bezerk!!!
The following ‘wall of noise’ called “Power to the People” is a collaboration with D-Passion. Right from the start it’s energetic with an uplifting main melody and the typical D-Passion distorted additions. Those combinations make a very strong track. Which also applies to “Who’s the Best”. The synthesizer keeps echoing inside your head even long after the music has stopped playing.
The intro of “Bassdrum Bitch” is new. It didn’t appear on the original EP with Noize Suppressor. So this is one for the collectors. The track stands its ground. Unfortunately the track has been shortened compared to the original version. Why!?!?!?
Something coming back in almost every cd album with intro’s and interludes are the so called ‘phonecalls and answering machine massages’. This time it’s MC Mouth of Madness telling us something about the past, concerning the essence of hardcore. “The Core” is about the music and nothing else. The sound is similar to that of “A Night of Madness” and good listeners will recognize some parts of “Bike’s Drum”.
At 6 we have a collaboration between Mad Dog and Anime. “Hardcore Machine” is a funny track based on a computerised vocal. Put in an aggressive synthesizer, speed it all up a little and you’ll have a very entertaining track which will change the dance floor into a wild stampede.
The next track gets you from the first notes played. Long synths make the intro, but the main melody is like the melody of an oldschool hardcore track. Short aggressive synths like the one used in “Hardcore to the Bone by Masters of Ceremony” fire up the place. The kick is louder and more distorted than in the previous tracks. The whole level of frustration is much higher and therefore gives this track more power.
Mad dog has combined his style with that of a lot of other producers. The next 2 who have contributed are Predator and Angerfist. The guitar intro doesn’t predict much happiness. The whole track is dark and aggressive. The synthesizer melodies are typical for the sound of Danny Masseling. Short screechy sounds which are fucking with your mind. The breaks are well done (pay attention to the vocals), building tension before the long stretched synths take over. Multiple layers of melody give this track body.
An absolute highlight on this cd is the collaboration with Amnesys. Their first for as far as we know. “Game Over” is a 4m33s 16bit trip through ‘Super Mario Land’ on speed. And hell they did a great job! The style of both producers can be heard in different parts of the track.With intelligent and up-lifting melody-lines, variated with strong basslines and great vocal samples they rock the place from back to front. One of the most original tracks we’ve heard in a long time.
“Nothing Else Matters” is presumably one of the most difficult tracks made on this album. The difficult guitar melody from Metallica’s song had to be translated to a deformed synthesizer melody with all the right chords. Filippo had some help from The Stunned Guys on this one. The outcome is impressive. After the melodic part, the standaard bassdrums kick in and change the whole into a floor worthy track. Attention, this track causes goosebumps when played loud in a large hall.
It’s nice to see that even present hardcore producers can be inspired by icons like Bob Marley. If it is by his music or just by a fragment of an interview remains the question. The result though is a catchy track called “B.O.B.”, already brought out on the first Ep from this album.
Last but not least is “Lost”. This aggressive track has been made together with Nosferatu and that means a lot of anger and frustration put into far to small a space, so it can boil up and explode when the time is ready. The melody is genius, freaky and sure to drive somebody crazy. Play as loud as possible. But let us not forget the many subtle background sounds and the way the track is rebuild after the break. These kind of details separate the men from the boys. A worthy closure of cd1.
CD2
We already noticed that disk 2 contains a mix instead of loose tracks. It kicks off with “The Memory disappears”. The track has a good intro and when the kicks finally hit in we realize that a lot has changed in 10 years. Hardcore has become more and more professional which can be noticed when you look at the way tracks are produced nowadays. With better equipment and software, resulting in a more natural sound. However, this track still gets us going with its loud echoing basses and scratchy melody. It definately represents the style of hardcore in the year it was made in. Another old-timer “Snap Off” has been used shortly to continue the mix. And with “So what about the…” we hit the first recognizable track of many.
All following tracks are well known and show us the progress Mad Dog made in these years. And by that, gaining more and more credit. Each track after another is of high quality.It’s nice to hear them again but why in a short mix? Most tracks are best played fully. That brings us straight to the first and only minor point of this album. It seems that Mad Dog didn’t want to choose between his best hits (which we understand) and decided to put them all on the cd. Why then stop at 40 minutes when there are so many awesome tracks left to choose from like “Awful Sound”, “The Next Level”, “The Flow”, “Payback Time”, “Last Motherfucker” and “Headz” which can be added as well to fill up the cd to 70 minutes? The same can be said about cd1. Why are so many songs just bluntly cut off, while the original versions are much longer?But even with these minor points this whole album still is a great purchase. You’ll get the best of old and new tracks. The album has also been released on mp3 @ 320kbs for those who use mp3-cd’s during a dj-set. For those who like to spin vinyl there’s always the option to buy the original Ep’s.
Enjoy!
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