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I have to admit I wasn’t all that crazily looking forward to this release. Sure Transwave were good, but that was a long time ago, and it never struck me as justification that the group’s members – Dado and Christof – still demand luxury flights and quality hotels wherever they go.

Quite whether Backfire addresses all these concerns isn’t quite the point; but fuck me what a nice collection. Its relevance may be dependant on whether You Were There, but the sheer quantity – and quality – of little moments in the music is staggering.

The breakdowns on Anahata and Flamicogyre, the escalating acid mayhem of Arsonik and Bombay Night, and the sheer joy of finally having an unmixed version of Cycles Of Life… all bloody good reasons for giving this a pop.

Listening with new ears, as though we’d never heard Transwave before, is an interesting one. The music doesn’t sound as silly as Astral Projection would, but not as intricate as The Infinity Project would. And in truth, it’s difficult to judge what’s going on without making at least some kind of emotional reference to Days Gone By.

Backfire is most likely to appeal to fans of the oldskool, whether they were there at the time or not; which means it’s far from essential.

And whichever way you look at it, it’s probably going to be better than their much-touted comeback album later this year.

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