Rave reviews…
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[5.43]
Thomas Inskeep: Fifteen years after the trance classic (rightly or wrongly) “Sandstorm,” Darude tries for a comeback with a slab of EDM-pop paint-by-numbers. He needn’t have tried.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Like Sonique’s “It Feels So Good,” “Sandstorm” was inescapable in Miami for most of 2000. The clippety-clop rhythm and thick two-note hook still scream Y2K.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: This is the dude who made “Sandstorm” and nothing is ever going to change that. That’s it, it’s his peak, a fucking massive trance classic and anybody who says otherwise is either a trance nerd who is trying too hard (NO ONE is impressed with your obscure Armin van Buuren remix name drops), or, worse, someone who refuses to find joy in the obvious. Is it “Sandstorm”? No. But he does flirt with the kind of sounds that made that gem so 24 Karat in the first place. Instead, it’s a cop-out anthemic banger, Darude hoping to mine on his legacy and also pay the bills.
[5]
Patrick St. Michel: Let’s get totally cynical. Darude is wisely trying to cash in on the fact “Sandstorm” stands in as “techno, all of it” for an entire generation of people, and “Beautiful Alien” is him trying to reach the EDM crowds. It plays up the idea of EDM fans being totally unique humans while the music actually reveals the true drawing power of EDM, which is how it flattens out individuality in favor of all-together-now dancing. This is the best aspect of EDM (and dance music in general), and “Beautiful Alien” does a good enough job of being ready to go for a festival. But it’s also just incredibly basic when taken by itself.
[5]
David Sheffieck: First: this is no “Sandstorm.” Nothing is and nothing ever will be. That’s okay, but you need to accept it. Acceptance that “Beautiful Alien” can never recapture those glorious, insistent bleats and thrilling dynamics will allow you to appreciate the song out of the shadow of the greatest piece of electronic music ever created, on its own terms. Those terms include immediate (the opening beat, the rising violin) and recurring (the background synth chords) echoes of “Sandstorm.” Which is on one hand an impressively audacious move, but is also a reminder that no matter how hard you — or, apparently, Darude — try, it’s impossible to move on from the perfection of “Sandstorm” and even harder to equal it. Dun dundundun dun.
[6]
Will Adams: Darude is aware of his own history, which is why the opening quotes “Sandstorm,” right down to the high synth violin following the booming kick. Beyond that one nod, though, “Beautiful Alien” doesn’t try to recreate the past or try to be anything more than slightly silly but still banging electro house. It’s all the better for that.
[7]
Scott Mildenhall: Given the reappearance of familiar elements, Darude’s first single in the best part of a decade can only have been a labour of love. That or a grasping callback anyway. It does makes sense though. His never conservative take on trance is a serendipitous match for newer “EDM” — there’s greater distance between this and “Feel The Beat” than there is that and “Animals” — and so perhaps, with the likes of van Buuren now on a similar train, he’s returning to an edge he cut. If that sounds like mythic nonsense, good. AI AM plays that stuff up with aplomb: generalised euphoria when “lost among the stars” and quiet, blissful determination while stating that “I will never be like you”. Silliness wins again.
[7]