Jump to content

Juno Reactor - "The Golden Sun of the Great East" (2013)


healium

Recommended Posts

‎Juno Reactor - "The Golden Sun of the Great East"
R-150-4512701-1367542046-3634.jpeg
371663cover.jpg

1. Final Frontier
2. Invisible
3. Guillotine
4. Trans Siberian
5. Shine
6. Tempest
7. Zombie
8. To Byculla
9. Playing With Fire

Review:

Finally! A Juno Reactor album that isn't movie soundtrack cheese!

No seriously though, this is a wonderful return to form for JR. While it has the movie soundtrack vibe like their last couple albums, it doesn't sacrifice depth and complexity. There is a lot of variety here in the tracks, and a lot of nice big hooks in the tracks. Nice melodies, some grooving rythms (some of these tracks could work well on the dancefloor).

This is not a radical change for JR - I wouldn't say they have done anything groundbreaking here - the style has not gone in any particularly new direction. But what I love is that it takes the darkness and depth from an album like "Bible of Dreams" and combines it with the showy theatrical atmosphere of their more recent work.

It's nice to see an artist album that is more psychedelic/complex than their previous album rather than less psychedelic/complex. It seems like once artists start going the way of making their music more commercially-oriented, they don't go back to their psychedelic roots - not the case here, as although this album has a mainstream accessibility, it has the real JR spirit to it.

90/100

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Juno Reactor: The Golden Sun of the Great East

Metropolis Records

2013

 

1. Final Frontier
2. Invisible
3. Guillotine
4. Trans Siberian
5. Shine
6. Tempest
7. Zombie
8. To Byculla
9. Playing With Fire

The Golden Sun of the Great East is one of Juno Reactor's strongest albums since Beyond the Infinite, Bible of Dreams, and some of the better parts of Labyrinth that didn't sound too soundtrack-y. This release is a positive surprise from one of the leading pioneers in electronic (also organically combined electronic) music. The album is homogeneous, and flows exceptionally well from beginning to end. There are less powerful, intense moments here than on Labyrinth. There is something enjoyable about this less intense approach, but don't let that fool you. JR is daring and exciting! This album is cerebral and imaginative, and captures virtually everything I adore about Juno Reactor.

 

In conclusion, I love that JR returned to what they do best, with atmosphere, depth and substance. Ben/group brought back the intrigue, the edgy, dark and light, electronic meets organic, ethnic, tribal influence, and more! This is one of my favorite albums of 2013 by far, top 5. I have no gripes. Every song is strong.

 

An album doesn't have to be groundbreaking in order to be great. This is an EXCELLENT album that builds on the already groundbreaking foundation and development of JR's style with 9 solid, exclusive tracks. There is an occasionally dramatic feel that never sounds too much like a soundtrack as parts of Labyrinth did. After hearing 2008's frustratingly slow (some tracks) hit-and-miss God's & Monsters album (I heard it again he other day and have to skip to the few 3-4 exciting tracks), Golden Sun/Great East is a strong return to form. It's arguably their most homogenous album yet. Well done!

 

Everyone, hear this album. For many this will be BETTER than Labyrinth and THAT was in 2004 !

I love this group.

 

9 our of 10

 

A-

 

Stream Full Album / Order

 

Stream their Full Album Free!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwkRDGxGPHI&list=PLpMTljM1DXNq60wxLr-JhU0dBAgU0Y-3Y

 

Amazon UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Golden-Sun-Great-East/dp/B00BFRUGYC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387841436&sr=8-1&keywords=juno+reactor

 

Amazon USA

http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Sun-Great-East/dp/B00BFRUGYC/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_6

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Just a heads up, it's of the GREAT East not RISING East, :)

 

Just another heads up. It's one of 2013's best releases.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Juno Reactor's best album in years. I great trancey sound with all the stuff you've come to expect from Juno Rector but concentrated back on the deep trance feeling of years gone by. I adored Labyrinth, and like JR's cinematic sounding music but this is more a step towards Bible of Dreams. I wasn't expecting this at all, which might have made it sound even better :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Fantastic contemporary electronic music that has it's strong roots in goatrance. Ben Watkins is nothing short of a genius. This album is an example on how to make an old school approach yet have a new sound design and execute it practically flawlessly. It almost feels like a timelapse of the whole duration of Juno Reactors lifespan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yep, Ben Watkins is making a comeback to his goa roots with this one (Invisible! OMG!!), although this isn't by any means a neo-goa release, it is much deeper than that. Definatley one of the most original psytrance releases of 2013.

Faves: 2(!!), 3, 8(!!)

 

4/5 from me :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...
  • 9 months later...

This one is definitely a favourite from 2013. I still listen to it regularly. Love the cover art too. Looks very nice on the vinyl sleeve :)

Pretty thin cheapish vinyl but at the time when there are hardly any vinyl releases in this genre, it's definitely welcomed.

So many favourites in this album. Invisible, Tempest, Trans-Siberian, zombie, Final Fromtier.

Remix album was forgettable!!

Eagerly waiting for a new album.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...