To us Americans, the term “rave” is often associated with pre-teens on drugs, cheap clip-on angel wings, Bad Boy Bill, and ridiculously large pants that must save the janitorial crew at the civic center a fair amount of time by essentially acting as gigantic mops over the course of the evening.

Don’t even get me started on the different definitions of the term “hardcore”, either.  Skinhead white dudes screaming in a basement is one thing, but Sully brings the UK connotation on the eighth installment of this long-running series.

Following the likes of Reso, Threnody, Slaughter Mob, and Urban Graffiti label bosses Rogue Star and H.O.D., the Essex-based producer takes proto-jungle breakbeats from their 160bpm+ context and slows them down to a still invigorating 140bpm dubstep tempo.  The usual breaks are here, the odd-pitched vocals snippets too.

The A, “Living”, sounds like it could be an early Wax Doctor production played at about -6.  There’s heavyweight sound here, and it just keeps coming.  This one’s for those of us junglists out there who might have spent one too many nights out til noon.  ‘Ardkore yeah but the lower bpm gives us a chance to catch our breath.

“Flash Back” does exactly what it says on the tin – chiming chords with the low-end cut echo around classic breaks while big bass booms and the vocals just go on and on, pitch-warbling as needed.  Moving Shadow, Rufige Kru, etc . . .

B2 “Bless” starts off with an eerie Exorcist chord progression before dropping into everyone’s favorite break.  Joining the other two in sounding like it would be perfect nestled in that space/time of the earliest Metalheadz releases, it’s atmospheric enough to entertain the zonked and moving enough to keep the hardcore bassbin-grinding in the early light of dawn.