Track Listing
Fireflies (Jorn van Deynhoven Remix) – Roman Messer feat. Christina Novelli
Warrior (Original Mix) – Axel Walters
Infinity (Steve Allen Remix) – Photographer
Antipode (Original Mix) – Roman Messer
Supernova (Original Mix) – Rene Ablaze & Mhammed El Alami
Voices (Original Mix) – Dennis Graft
I’ll Be Free (Original Mix) – Michael Milov
STOP! (Original Mix) – Roman Messer & Twin View
The Agent (Original Mix) – Adip Kiyoi
Every Goodbye (NoMosk Remix) – Attila Syah pres. Gamma & Cari
Hyperspace (Original Mix) – Tom Exo
Dynamic (Original Mix) – K.E.K A
Manhattan (Original Mix) – Axel Walters
Pochinki Bound (Original Mix) – Didit Aphrodite
Fight Club (Original Mix) – Cyril Ryaz
Showing off a darker side of the trance spectrum, Dark Miami 2019 is a musical journey through the hard-styled underground scene of trance music. With a combination of psy-trance, hard trance and euphoric vocals, Dark Miami 2019 shows off a side of trance music largely shielded by the mainstream behemoths of Anjunabeats and A State Of Trance.
Despite being one of my favourite songs last year, Roman Messer’s massive vocal hit Fireflies opens the album and feels oddly out of place. Once you get past this track the album descends into a mish-mash of psy and hard trance with a sprinkling of gabber vibes running throughout the compilation. This continues until Every Goodbye, a beautifully written track utilizing a good combination of a piano and vocals. This really acts as an interlude before charging back into the harder flavour of the album, ending with one final slice of euphoric hard trance, Fight Club.
Whilst Dark Miami 2019 does well to show off a harder style of trance offerings rather than just repackaging the most popular tracks of the year, the track placement and lack of mixing between tracks is a little distracting. The two euphoric vocal offerings feel oddly out of place here too and next to the harder trance and psy vibes, may well have been better removed altogether.
Still, there are some good tracks here though and there’s clearly been some thought put into the track choices as well, making sure some of the lesser-heard trance anthems get some much deserved air time. A few of my personal favourites include Antipode, Hyperspace and the aforementioned Fireflies.
If you’re looking for something a little harder and underground-styled than the usual big Armada or Anjuna releases, Dark Miami 2019 does a pretty good job here. While the lack of mixed tracks and questionable track placement holds this one back from being a better compilation, there’s enough here to make for an enjoyable trip into the underbelly of trance music nonetheless.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10