The Harder View

Right at the moment people started to forget about one of the most pointless sublabels in hardstyle history, Scantraxx Silver is back with a well-timed release by Frontliner. With three releases on the label, there still does not seem te be a single bit of added value to SSL. Still, the previous releases were both reasonably good at least, and that is still the main criterium to judge a label by. Let us see if Time / Rollin’ manages to give SSL more of a sense of purpose.

Of course, Time is a much-anticipated track which has already been on a lot of compilations. With it, Frontliner again exercises his talent for catchy songs the masses love. This time, the popularity is partly due to copious amounts of cheese and bells. A classification for it that keeps crossing my mind is ‘lame’.

On the other hand, there is quite a lot of artistic merit to it. On a surround system, the bells in the intro have an impressive effect to them – it feels as though you are standing right in the middle of a playing carillon.

More important, however, is that Frontliner continues to break away from the standard nustyle structure. The intro and outro of Time are recognisably different from the climax, yet they are  part of the same composition. If layered together they would still make a single song, a quality that is not present in most melodic hardstyle.

Rollin’ also attemps to break with the set structure rules, following the same pattern as Headhunterz’ A New Day. There is a short intro, a break in which the melody comes up, which in turn dissolves into a midintro in which the melody is absent. This has a wonderful effect on the listener, creating tension and energy. The Donkey Rollers have proved the concept’s worth years ago with The Fusion of Sound, yet similar tracks are very hard to find. Frontliner, however, previously made one under his Abject alias, the woefully underrated song My Dome.

Rollin’, like A New Day, is different to both songs mentioned above in having the melody turn up again in a ‘real’ climax. A melody which, by the way, is not as cheesy as Time’s, and actually very captivating and uplifting.

All in all, this release is in fact very similar to Spacer / Warphole, with an overrated piece of cheese as an A-side and a wonderful melody on the back. Both Time and Rollin’, however, have more artistic merit to them than Frontliner’s last pair of huge hits – Muzyk and Self Deprication (SSL002) for some reason never got as big. Yet again like Spacer / Warphole, the B-side is the winner here. Time is to be applauded for its structure and composition, yet simply too lame to take it completely seriously. Rollin’, with its effective structure and brainlessly entertaining melody, ultimately proves more worth and makes for a highly positive final verdict.

And to answer my question from the first paragraph, this release still fails to point out Scantraxx Silver’s raison d’être. There is no noticeable difference at all between the releases on here and those on Scantraxx, or Scantraxx Specials, for that matter. Although hardly a reason to criticise every release on there, it does seem a little silly to start sublabels just for the sake of having sublabels. Or something. It’s like a whore having babies just because… oh wait…

Tracklist:

• A. Frontliner – Time
• B. Frontliner – Rollin’

Verdict: 79/100

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