To understand the genius of Christopher Lawrence's RISE one must first understand progressive trance. Now I don't pretend to be a professor of techno but I know a little and I know what I like. Progressive trance still has the mind numbing beat of trance but is taken a step further by adding lofty keyboard effects and stratospheric song selections. These two differences give progressive trance a flying or gliding sound. It's difficult to put into words, but there is definitely an uplifting sound to progressive trance.

Christopher Lawrence's RISE is a prime example of this new form of trance. From track one (Phreaks by Huntemann) the album shoots into the atmosphere and doesn't burn up on re-entry until track 12 (Elan Vital by De Niro). De Niro is the most used artist on RISE which gives it more a central sound. DJ mixed albums, or albums where the DJ will use a selection of songs seamlessly mixed together to make one long 'song', can have an overall choppy sound to them. Hasty mixing or a bad song selection can lead to this. But RISE flows flawlessly from song to song. As a matter of fact, after two years of listening to RISE, I've only noticed one time in the entire albums where the tempo changes. To pull off this seamless of an album takes dedication and skill, both of which Christopher Lawrence has in spades.

The last few tracks sound a bit old after listening to the entire album. But this is only because the album has an overall similar sound. To cure this just start at track six (Millennium by Millennium), one of my favorite tracks. Here's an interesting note about that song... in the final printing of the back CD cover, track six was left off. For a whole year I thought that track 12 was secret song, but alas, someone just messed up at the printing press.

If you dig RISE as much as I know you will, check out Temptation by Christopher Lawrence. This album has a much harder, darker sound. If you like the progressive trance sound, pick up some Kimball Collins. This guy takes progressive trance to outer space!

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends