- The Superchumbo sound is distinctive, immediately recognisable. Thumping, concrete four to the floor beats at a solid tempo, enormous bass sounds, vocal hooks and stabbed keyboard riffs over the top.
Thankfully that doesn’t mean every track sounds the same, and Stephan has some well-chosen guests up his sleeve. Most striking of all is Neil Tennant, who wrote the lyrics and melody for the disturbing ‘Tranquilizer’. It’s odd to hear him swear so much on record, with some unusual word emphasis and dark content making this a standout track. Then there’s Samantha Fox, a Prodigy-esque choice for ‘Sugar’, again an upfront, aggressive sound well complemented by the vocal.
Stephan’s biggest smashes as Superchumbo are here also, the mighty ‘Irresistible!’ and the Morillo-pleasing ‘This Beat Is’, both still doing the business. The title track camps things up, Edgy’s vocal flitting across the speakers to a terrifically brooding bit of house, leading into a reworking of the oldest Superchumbo track here, the uplifting ‘Revolution’. Stephan himself contributes vocals to ‘Everything U’, and elsewhere there are guest appearances by Celeda and two Miami club queens, Gay Joy and Alan T.
It’s an exciting album, hangs together well and is the perfect showcase for Stephan’s powerful sound. The only regret is the pauses between tracks, as they would blend together perfectly in a semi-mix format. It’s a small quibble though, for what is an essentially sound album to rock the house!