• Happy Rave vibes with a German touch
• Something familiar in the vocals…
• Excellent sound design
Oh, it’s about time CIIMera is introduced to our readers! The German alias has a knack for Euphoric Hardstyle— specializing in a “Happy Rave” vibe which producers like W&W and AXMO are reviving alongside other well-made club releases. Being a fan of the Hardstyle sound, I naturally welcome the idea of enhanced BPMs and assertive leads, but beware: as I have said earlier for my critic for R3HAB and W&W, predictable tunes are not welcomed here.
CIIMera is a producer having an abundance of these kinds of tunes in his catalog (favorites being “Till The End” and “Zero Gravity”), not falling to redundancy by using experimental melodies and lots of work on breakdowns with old-school spin on the drops; less big room compared to W&W, in comparison but cleaner. And don’t worry, the kick does its job faithfully.
In “Never Coming Back”, we have a superb melody that CIIMera wisely adopts in the breakdown as well! The lead pops here and there as a teaser of what’s to come, while a few chords play with Eileen Jaime‘s vocals in a catchy breakdown act. The vocals start with the words, “When I open my eyes…”, which rang a bell for me but couldn’t make sure whether it was from an older record.
Anyway, this is quickly replaced by a jaunty drop, and let me say: CIIMera has the expertise in this area. The kick is clean, the melody’s a treat, and the bass has a classic touch that I loved. This is an exquisite drop while keeping things straightforward. Especially towards the finale where the drop dares to up the energy further, ending the performance on a high note!
“Never Coming Back” stands out in the technical department with a streamlined layout. Compared to other Happy Rave tunes, CIIMera used a few choice elements in just the precise way to optimize the final result, well evident of the engineering behind it.