One of the most sought after compilation series has just been released - Universal Religion Chapter 6, mixed and compiled by no other than Armin van Buuren, who is riding on the highs of his Invasion Tour as well as celebrating his 550 episode of A State of Trance. Unlike the last two chapters, this was recorded live at Club Privilege in Ibiza.
CD 1 contains 16 tracks and begins with the Armin van Buuren Intro Edit of the melodic piano-filled track 'How Do I Know' by Andrew Rayel and Jano. This was followed by another vocal track filled with pounding beats and melodic synths in 'I Want to Believe' courtesy of Andy Duguid and Shannon Hurley. Armin continued this journey with Blake Jarrell's 'Barbados' and the Future Disciple remix of 'Fireisland' by Solarstone and Aly & Fila before bringing it down a notch with melodic beats of his new track 'I'll Listen' featuring the amazing vocals of Ana Criado. This track was introduce during Global Gathering and it surely was a crowd favorite.
Bringing us to a higher state, Armin drops in 'Relict' by Abstract Vision, Elite Electronic and Broning. The track's higher bpm contain pumping beats and melodic chords that would surely be a hit on live sets. He continues this journey with the next two tracks - Protoculture's 'Perpetual Motion' and Orjan Nilsen's 'Burana' - before dropping some dark and dirty beats of 'Fortuna' by Beat Service.
The next few tracks is like a roller coaster ride. He continues with the uplifting and melodic track, 'Aeon of Revenge' by Andrew Rayel before dropping the pounding beats of Skytech's 'What's Wrong.' He then brings in the goosebump inducing track 'Green Velvet' by Stoneface & Terminal and A.R.D.I.'s 'Premonition.' He adds to this journey by mixing in Matt Davey's 'Believe in Me', a track with melodic synths and haunting chant and the uplifting 'Headliner' by Jorn van Deynhoven. These tracks would make you close your eyes and raise your hands trying to reach the stars. He drops in a mashup up to close out CD1 - 'Void' by Sasha Carassi & Mikael Jonasson mixed with his Gaia track 'Status Excessu D.' This mashup has received praises from the listeners of A State of Trance.
Disc two kicks off with Alex M.O.R.P.H.'s 'Eternal Flame', a favorite of mine on his Prime Mover album due to its haunting piano-filled melodies and chant. Definitely a certified goosebump-inducing track. He follows with the melodic synths and beats of Omnia's 'Infina' and Richard Sebastian's 'Full Disclosure'. Armin brings in a vocal track next in 'Stranger' by Jaytech and Steve Smith in the Kyau & Albert remix. This track has been receiving numerous plays the past few weeks due to its lovely melodies and the amazing voice of Smith.
Armin change the mood to a darker trouse by dropping in the pounding beats of Juventa's 'Metamorphose' before getting us back up with the melodic uplifting tracks, 'Elveda' by Faruk Sabanci and Daniel Kandi's '3 Strikes UR In.' This is followed by the lovely voice of Emma Hewitt in 'Like Spinning Plates', a track with Dash Berlin which got more melodic courtesy of Alexander Popov. Next is the amazing melodic MaRLo dub remix of the classic 'Time' by Paul Webster and Angelic Amanda and Tomas Heredia's 'The Witch'.
Armin continues with the melodic beats and chant of Andy Moor's 'K Ta' before bringing in some big room beats in 'Pleasure', a track by Richard Durand & Protoculture. Armin drops in 'Retrospection,' an uplifting track by Matt Bukovski filled with amazing melodies. He continues our journey to a higher state with 'The Perfect Match' by Aligator and Daniel Kandi. This track is pure melodic then drops you back to the ground with some pounding beats that would surely be a crowd favorite and be in the running for top track of 2012. He then drops another mashup, blending Mark Burton's 'Understatement' with 'Try To Be Love' by Sunlounger & Zara Taylor. Pretty good mashup of pounding beats and Balearic melodies. He then closes with lovely melodies of 'The Inside' by Neptune Project and Polly Strange.
Universal Religion Chapter 6 is one of the best albums of the year and could be one of the best in the series as well. No doubt in my mind that UR 6 would be a 10 in my books but sadly not hearing the transitions in between tracks and hearing only snippets will not allow me to give the album it proper rating.
8/10
Review is also posted at TranceHub - http://trancehub.com/reviews/albums/armin-van-buuren-universal-religion-chapter-6
