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LABEL: Carnal Records RELEASE DATE: January 2004 GENRE: Hardstyle, Hard Trance
// review by SoyBomb

The legacy of Ligaya lives on in hardstyle form.

Even though DJ Tiësto left the Gouryella project sometime after "Tenshi" was released, Ferry Corsten kept the name and created a beautiful and majesting trance tune, "Ligaya", in 2002. After receiving grand success and many accolades, a special limited edition vinyl was pressed out in 2004, containing two hardstyle remixes of "Ligaya".

First is the remix by Japanese Nu-NRG master Yoji Biomehanika (hell, that name is cool enough; I wish my last name was Biomehanika). This is my personal favorite of all the remixes I've ever heard done of "Ligaya". I've seen on forums that many people feel that this is crappy, cheesy, and strays too far from what Gouryella stands for, but I think that this is fun to listen to. It has a very classic-sounding and Yoji Biomehanika-style synth sound to the chorus (even though you have to wait a good four minutes before it even comes in. And then, it leaves around the 6:23 mark. That would be just great BUT the song is over ten minutes long, so that same filler that's at the beginning is at the end as well. Yet it's the sound of Yoji Biomehanika that I've come to enjoy, so I can live with it. But can YOU?

Meanwhile, on the flipside of this vinyl is the remix by Walt, another hardstyle producer who hails from the Netherlands. They know how to groove over there. Walt released a couple of tracks in the past couple of years, including the March 2004 release "Bring The Pain" and the aptly-titled "Wanna Fuck" in 2003. Dirty. Honestly, while it's certainly a rough and tough song with synths that seem to graze your eardrums, I don't believe that it uses the melody from the original Ligaya, only the build-up. Walt has decided to add some melody of his own in lieu of it (and if this IS the actual Ligaya tune, I'm shocked at how it's been desecrated), but honestly, it's not what I would expect from a remix of Ligaya. For hardstyle, it's good. For Ligaya, it's not so good.

So because of Walt's truly questionable work, I can't really give this vinyl a high rating. And that's unfortunate because Yoji Biomehanika's remix is cool by my standards.


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