Overdog of the Past: Final Dream – The Future Is Dark

If there ever was an "underdog" release, it's this one. "Final Dream" is a project by Phil Klein aka Bass Junkie, who is known for championing the Electro-Funk sound of the 80s when no-one else had the balls to do this (of course, *by now* every hipster producer is back onto this sound again).
But let's not talk electro this time. Because, in a very unusual move, this is actually a gritty Hardcore release by the man.
And a very interesting one at that. Very experimental sounds, and it seems to draw from a lot of sources, such as "Industrial Hardcore", Gabber, Acid, even a bit of Speedcore and, yes, Electro.
It's really one of a kind, and the production values are top-notch (which was still a bit of a rare thing in that period).

I see no reason why this release did not become big big big and end up in lots of sets and tracklists. Maybe lack of promo, being released on an "obscure" label, and being an unusual project for Phil Klein are the culprits here.

Either way, truly experimental and well-made releases in the Hardcore spectrum are hard to come by, and this one truly nails it.

https://battletrax.bandcamp.com/album/final-dream-the-future-is-dark