Review: “Trilenium” by SASH! (CD, 2000)

Today’s POP RESCUE from an uncertain fate, is the 2000 third album Trilenium by German DJ and production team, SASH! Will this album really be adelante, or is it over The Hill? Read on…

SASH! - Trilenium (2000) album cover — SASH! – Trilenium (2000) album

The 14 track album opens with Rock The Block, which bursts open before you’re informed that “DJ SASH! is about to rock the block”. The trademark simple synth sound arrives, swirling around Deborah Cameron‘s big dance vocals. In hindsight, the thumping beats remind me of Darude, whilst the rushing synths pretty much fills any late 90’s/early 00’s song. Vocals are a minimum here, and obviously it leave

Next up is lead single Adelante, and this very closely follows the style that made SASH! so successful with the UK audience. The catchy synth accordion hook, the thumping beats, and the repetitive Spanish vocals from Adrian Rodriguez, and the Obi Wan-esque vocals from the late Paul Faulhammer combined took it to #2 in the UK singles chart in early 2000. This is a fantastic summer/driving song, and deserved the success it saw.

This is followed by third and final single With My Own Eyes, with Inka taking the mic. This sounds much more euro-pop, and perhaps leaning towards the Vengaboys or Deuce. The synths are lighter here, giving Inka’s vocals space and time to be shown off. Sadly though, she’s kept a little reigned in, and doesn’t get much variation to show off. Definitely not as catchy as Adelante. Even so, the UK singles-buying public rewarded it with a #10 hit position.

Fourth track Show Me The Right Way follows this, bringing the dance synths and male vocals. The layering of synths here are really nicely done, even though by the time the verse comes along, all I could think of was how Aqua‘s Doctor Jones hit would fit over the top. Still, it bounces along with little effort and will no doubt get your foot tapping. I’ll have forgotten it in a few tracks time.

Le Soleil Noir follows that, and there’s a familiar opening – very much like his huge hit Encore Une Fois!… and that’s because the amazing Sabine Ohmes is on vocals. The nods to that track’s sound are there from the first note, and particularly given her spoken French vocals.

Next is Just Around The Hill, and this sees the return of SASH!’s former collaborator, the brilliant Tina Cousins. This song is unlike anything else so far on this album – it’s a pop ballad. Tina’s vocals are beautiful, and she’s surrounded by minimal bleeping and bubbling synths, and some synth strings. She’s given loads of space to show off her rich vocals.

Following this is Tell Me Now, which opens sounding reminiscent of earlier hit Mysterious Times (with Tina). CA$H takes the vocals, and it gives a very significant whiff of an old 70’s disco track in the chorus, but the stabbing synth sequences ensure it definitely sounds decades later than this. I think it could have been catchy with some more interesting synths and playing it for the disco-feel it clearly oozes.

Pounding beats and downbeat synths open next track, the titular Trilenium. They’re then joined by repetitive bleeps as the track drops a hand-clap into the track. It reminds me of The Smurfs on my old GameBoy. The heavy percussion use adds some interest to an otherwise boring instrumental.

Halleluja follows this, bursting in with a huge “Yeah-eah-eah!” from Deborah Cameron. She’s joined by CA$H, and the whole sound results in a religious/gospel dance track, thanking someone (presumably a god) for a list of things including: remote control, one-way streets, shopping malls, global warming (really?), aspirin, good skin and party time. Weird. These two vocalists sound great elsewhere on the album, but sadly this track really is a huge pile of rubbish.

Next is a return to form with Together Again, seeing BLA OJNE take the vocals. This feels somewhat closer to the Tina Cousins style of hits. Bla’s vocals are rich and sit perfectly amongst the more structured synth/beat/piano sound. This is definitely more synth-pop. It’s a nice little song, and probably could have made it as a single.

This is followed by Destination Unknown, which opens with some sorrowful electric piano, sounding like an 80’s pop track, but criminally it lacks any vocals. It sounds wonderfully sad, and could easily have taken vocals from any of the vocalists so far. A really nice sounding song, but a completely missed opportunity.

Multiply Teaser follows this, a thumping dance beat, ushers in a growing synth pad, again for another instrumental. SASH!’s record label is called Multiply, so I’m unsure what this track is meant to do – is it some kind of promo track that he made, and threw on the album?

Penultimate track My Kind Of Blues follows this, and SASH! is joined by Ricardo De Tomato. We’re back to a more pop rock sound, with some roaring electric guitars, record scratches, and repetitive shouting vocals of ‘My kind of blues’, which is odd, considering this is a dance track.

The album closes with Chill Out No. 1, and it does at least sound like a slow, evolving, gentle chill out track – the kind you might find on one of those fairly inexpensive CD compilations that they sell at the checkout at petrol stations. It builds nicely, and ultimately goes nowhere much for 4m 25s.

Lead single ‘Adelante’ from SASH!

Verdict

Over all, this album has about 5 good tracks – Adelante, Just Around The Hill, Tell Me Now, Le Soleil Noir, Together Again, and then the sadly vocal-less Destination Unknown. These tracks seem to continue and slightly evolve the sound of SASH! that we’d gotten to love at this time.

However, the rest of the album feels like filler, and is either all too similar, or just boring through its self-indulgence.

Cutting the album down from 14 to 10 tracks would be easy, and would have probably made it more successful.