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Nhato - Trace of Will

I’ve just ran into this album a few days ago because of Onoken. For people into trance, this can be interesting.

Nhato is a Japanese trance producer. I knew him from his track called Gekka, which I ran into earlier when I was looking into Japanese electronic music. Now though, I’ve found this album (released at the end of 2019) because of Onoken, because the last track on it is an Onoken remix.

What to expect? Trance, velocity familiar from rhythm games (if you’re familiar with e.g. cYsmix, you know what I mean), with a bit of growl, and to make things more epic, some synth choir here and there. Kinda popular mixture, but I think you won’t mind because it’s pretty well made. Typically recommended for when you need some energy in your system: for me, it works perfectly well during my morning commute for making me believe that I managed to wake up. It’s a bit of a downside that it’s so consistently one specific kind of music - you might find this a bit monotonous, but at least Nhato does what he does pretty well. Given this is trance, of course, it’s somewhat sensationalist, for example, he puts in so big raisers that it barely fits - but it still does. (Imagine the ideal length of a raiser. I think he sometimes puts in four times that much.) Anyway, I think I can visualize the party he has in mind, and I can support this, I think I would have a fun time there.

A few tracks to note:

  • Veritas pulls so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if it would flip into psytrance, but no, Nhato chose the choir stuff there instead 🤣 Well, the track got a fair share of “truth”, and a fair share of cool drumrolls too. Probably this track showcases the largest amount of contrast; one of my favorites from the album.
  • Omniscient starts with a sound I would have loved as a teen, and later, it even gets modernized - I would have surely gone crazy about it back in the days.
  • I wonder, who were the producer / DJ heroes of Japanese trance people? Listening to Filum, I can’t shake the feeling that some Gouryella must have been there. Nhato can pull this celebrational vibe off pretty well, although I’m happy that there’s not more of this sound on this album - this is typically the thing I only need a little bit of.
  • Voices is definitely the kind of music that can make me move, another potential favorite, and I appreciate that it’s not overcomplicated.
  • Oblivio is a well-made happiness bomb; cozy vibes and superb energies are alternating here. Sure to make me smile.

About the remixes:

  • The Yooh remix of Lux tries to build on the epicness with some more instrumental parts.
  • The Taishi remix of Angelus builds up the tension very well, but at some parts, it a bit too complex, the original is much more streamlined.
  • The Edelritter remix of Veritas is way too much for me, but if you like hard stuff, you might dig it.
  • Both the original and the End of Summer mix of Summer Waves showcases it very well that Nhato’s stuff can work perfectly well in more popular contexts, too.
  • Onoken’s remix of Forbidden Souls is, to my surprise, the calmest track of the album, and sometimes I’m not even sure what sort of connection it has to the original. For example, there is a heavily effected vocal line that’s nowhere in the original. There is melodica in it too, and of course, a nice piano (what else could I expect from Onoken…) Great atmosphere, supported with a surprisingly heavy bass too.

If you’re interested in this album, you can find it on Bandcamp here: https://diversesystem.bandcamp.com/album/trace-of-will