Promo – Tunnel Vision | I Kept The Faith

The Promo Style series seems to be an attempt to recapture that Promo File sound of the late 90's and early 2000's, with varying degrees of success. Even the record cover looks similar.

My favourite track here is I Kept The Faith. Much slower than usual and a crispy kick, definitely File Style already. The main sound here is a prickly high pitched synth line that is manipulated at the end of the pattern to great effect, top quality stuff. The mid section is dominated by a creepy and slightly deranged riff that would not sound out of place in a scary movie. Nice! After the main synth line returns to cause more damage, I like how the synth sort of trails off. The vocal sample "we used to be explorers" I'm sure was Promo's sly dig at some producers for making more formulaic Hardcore, and to be fair, I don't blame him.

Tunnel Vision is not bad in comparison, its more melodic Millennium Hardcore, which Promo is an expert at. The start of the breakdown sounds like you're in a funeral home, before the rolling melody fades into the track. The melody: it's not bad but fairly forgettable. The second breakdown has a superior and more heavier melody, quite surprising the melodies weren't swapped to make a better tune. The outro is halted by an electric sounding synth, which is kinda wasted being at the end.

Millennium Hardcore was on a gradual slide by 2011, but Promo was still able to produce amazing tracks, showing why he is one of the best Hardcore producers of all time.