Hardwell, Will Sparks – Twisted

72%Overall Score

• Strong start with vocals
• Melodic breakdown, techno drops
• Robust, but predictable

The festival version of techno continues to take over the mainstage spectrum, thanks to key aliases devoting their skills and branding to the genre. Hardwell did it with his rebellious changeover, and likewise with Will Sparks, trading his usual bounce trademarks for the future rave. Subsequently, it so happened that these two goliaths of the rave scene conspired together on “Twisted”.

But is it demented enough? Yes and no.

Yes, because it expands on the new journey taken by both aliases at work here. Hardwell & Will Sparks’ recent penchant for an industrial, underground form of driving techno meets here with enough dexterity that one could expect. Slamming drums, neurotic rap vocals, and rebounding synths hurtle across in detached, mechanized drops while the breakdown brings an aura of trance to glue these hot-headed sequences. It’s a format that is tried and tested in other records and won’t bore a crowd looking forward to losing it.

So, why the ‘no’? Well, despite acing in the technical regards such as sound design or other, mincing words over those positives will crucify any judgment for creative details. Two dance music veterans clashing together on a blank canvas better be speaker-shattering, something that seemed amiss here. The production opts plenty from the classic, but predictable sounds and locks them in linear and formulaic patterns. Also, the argument of “why fix something that isn’t broken?” would be a hollow dispute, since a genre such as techno thrives on unconventional techniques. Something that we had seen in “Rebels Never Die”.

Ultimately, this get-together of upstanding monikers isn’t the expected explosive, yet it captures just about enough steam to rattle dancefloors.