By Andrew

Infected mushroom have been releasing EPs in the interim between their last stellar album ‘Army of Mushrooms’ and their soon to be released album which will return to the chiller, down tempo styles of ‘Converting Vegetarians’, and this volume 3 collections follows on from the previous two volumes under the same name. With the release of EP number 3, people had high hopes for it with many an internet fiend bandying about terms like ‘best ever’ and ‘Infected at their greatest’. Volume three is pretty much just that, the third volume but has it hits the great heights of the previous two entries?

Long story short, no. Volume three, made up of just four songs and only one ‘friend’ on mushrooms is nowhere near as amazing as the first two EPs in the series and falls very much short of this reviewer’s expectations of Infected Mushroom releases. The fact the duo is even charging money for this EP on the same scale as the previous two entries is a little bit offensive. I have been given word that they plan to release all three of the EPs as one compilation album which will go some of the way to rectifying this blatant grab for Beatport cash, I can’t help but wonder whether it would have been fine just to release the first two EPs by themselves (they have, after all, a total of nine songs together which more than makes for a IM album if previous albums are anything to go by.

This is not to say that the four songs are rubbish, but to note, there are really only two worth taking notice of. The first track ‘Rise Up’, the only one collaborating with anyone (in this case, Savant) has everything we have come to expect from Infected Mushroom when they collaborate with people. By this I mean they dominate. They dominate the production, the style and the execution. Infected are no longer a group that can produce music without signature sounds and to this end, you’re either a fan or you’re not. The second track worth mentioning is the final track ‘Who Is There’. The pumping psy-electro house beat peaks perfectly at 130BPM making it a rousing end to the EP and a stark contrast to the majority of their older stuff which happily grinds along at 145BPM, the psy trance mainstay speed.

I have previously refrained from calling Infected’s newer music dubstep as not to associate it with the death touch in dance music, but with this EP I think they need the touch. Two of the tracks are clearly dubstep influenced and I plant this blame squarely at the feet of Dim Mak Records. Although I have many Dim Mak releases in my collection from over the years, Steve Aoki needs to take his damn hands of my Infected Mushroom. If not for me, for the legions of psy-trance stalwarts out there that have never comes to terms with the fact that Infected Mushroom single-handedly killed the genre several years ago.

Overall, not a bad Infected Mushroom outing, but for those who know better this is seriously falling short. Technically brilliant as always, at some point people are going to pine for the old days and for me, all I want to do after listening to this EP is go listen to Converting Vegetarians again. Bring on the next ‘real’ album guys, I’m over the genre hopping daytrippers stuff. Please, for Psytrance’s sake.

***WHERE”S YOUR HEAD AT?***

6/10 Contagious Toadstools [Abrasive Andy}