Single Review: Rank 1 - Lytherion [September 2025]
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| High Contrast Recordings || Cat# HCR459 | |||
| Friday September 12th 2025 | |||
| 01. | Extended Mix | 06:23 | B Min 142 BPM |
| 02. | [Radio Edit] | 03:19 | B Min 142 BPM |
| Stream on Spotify | |||
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| Stream on Youtube |
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| Buy from Beatport | ||
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| 2025-08-15 / 08-29 |
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| On August 15th Benno shared a screenshot that finally revealed the name of the new, upcoming Rank 1 single: "Lytherion". Two teasers had been dropped since April 15th and thanks to a little birdie I caught wind that a demo of Lytherion was in the hands of a colleague of Benno's... But as I went into Detective Mane mode and scoured 1001tracklists for weeks, constantly refreshing the "Genres: Trance" tab, I just did not run into an ID that sounded like the teasers and for the longest time I had not title to go by either! But that wait has come to an end at last. Just how do they keep coming up with these cool names? First "Strobo", now "Lytherion"? I love how sci-fi that sounds, that is a great start. Of course, artwork can very much contribute to the "image" of a special tune (no pun intended, I sawear xD) and for me, Lytherion's is perfect... I absolutely adore the color blue! Especially the darker hues, but I also very much love lighter blues to a darker (blue/black) backdrop. Artwork and track title work together perfectly and I am so going to enjoy looking this track up on my phone and clicking play whilst being greeted by this bl**dy sleek cover! Imagine having this one on vinyl! This week finally saw Lytherion pop up in my Trance Genre Tab hunting on 1001tracklists: on the 26th, TEKNO dropped it on his Sound Escalation #253 podcast and then on the 28th Bobina did the same on Russia Goes Clubbing #880; Steve Allen and Ronski Speed followed at the start of September. Bar the TEKNO podcast, all the others had Soundcloud/Hearthis.at links attached to them so the Extended Mix finally reached my ears. |
| Rank 1 - Lytherion [Edit] |
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| Alright, so Lytherion kicks things off with a nice firm build-up with a rolling bassline covered under some gentle "pensive" Trancy synths. Hmmmm I dig the Classic feel on this already! There are those Classic whitenoise sweep and atmospheric pads swelling gently in the background, ready to announce the impending breakdown. And man, if there was ever a moment to capture the sentiment that "Rank 1 is back", it's this. That awesome lead from Benno's Twitter samples starts playing a beautiful melancholic motif that fits in the tradition of masterpieces such as "7 Instead Of 8" (2012), "Black Snow" (1999), "Opus 17" (2005) and of course "The Greater Light To Rule The Night" (2021)! The synth choice here is a fiercer one, think "Transatlantic Communication". It's first loop is only backed by a subtle lower pad. The second loop cranks up The Epic a bit by introducing more pads and a gated choir of sorts, invigorating our needs for those delectable Classic Trance moods. But what's this?? Breakdown isn't quite over yet?? That's right, the pure Trance pluck from Benno's June teaser makes its appearance now to lift us to the climax of this proper Classic Rank 1 breakdown... Their signature snares/cymbal party at the height of the climax is followed by a melodic Trance drop, as it f*cking should (so godd*mn tired of these monotone, stale and boring fUtuRe RaVe/mEloDiC TeChnO drops)! So much energy in this, I friggin' love it!! This is Rank 1, baby!! :D So good to have the boys back tearing it up with tunes like this, Strobo, Take Me Away (Rank 1 Remix)... But wait... Is that...?? Second segment...? with a different melody?? And are those... Bervoets & De Goeij-era flanged pads??? Holy shit!! We just went from Melancholic/dramatic Rank 1 to Euphoric/Victorious Rank 1! :D :D :D Wait, no! It's over already?? AAAAARGH... Give me the Extended Mix right now!! |
| Rank 1 - Lytherion (Extended Mix) |
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| Long live the longer builds. Spotify/streaming doctrine has waged war on the format of And the mighty pluck gets another play! You see?? THIS is why Extended Mixes are necessary! You get to fully immerse yourself in a majestic melody for a longer period of time! Man that stutter effect reminds me of that glitchy effect in Opus 17! In this second loop, you can hear some carefully placed pads, that add to the epicness of this incredible, catchy melody. Alright, anytime now that second melody will surface, right? Oh, there it is... Just in time! Backed by a lot of claps, ooooh it's swelling and those pads are swirling (this is going to be such a SICK live track) and... ... ....eh? Okay, that went a little different than I expected...? It seems this bit does not have that second layer of fierce synths... Aaaah, it's still building up tension, huh? Oh hey, there is another more ferocious layer joining in and... THERE'S the second drop of sorts! Okay, now the energy is just right! Have to admit the second break caught me off-guard a bit, the Edit has a more natural consistency in energy between both melody parts. I wonder if it was done to for that "kneeling before the drop" gimmick that DJs employ, urging the crowd to kneel with them and only jump up when the drop really hits... Regardless, this is a truly energetic track, a proper Rank 1 Trance anthem. |
| In conclusion |
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| For me this is a Grade A banger. I know the choice for the fiercer/disorted synths isn't going to sit well with all the uNdErGrOunD Sauerkrauts out there but this is a true Rank 1 anthem-styled track. It's amazing to have these guys back making uptempo stuff in their own style, and they are blending various eras of their past in their synth choices. Lytherion takes over from Strobo in style. Heck, if this was the old days, I could see both of them appearing on the same EP! Wouldn't that have been a killer vinyl? Side-A: Lytherion, Side-B: Strobo (Deeper Dub Mix). Hmmmmm, maybe if we blink with sweet puppy eyes at Be Yourself Music...? Nah, that's wishful thinking, isn't it? Anyhoo. Go show this track some love when it releases on September 12th! That's almost exactly a year to the day Benno first announced his BnO project... It's been an incredible 12 months for Benno de Goeij fans! :D |
| Special Promo selection to celebrate the release: |
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