I stopped listening around the time of Infected Mushroom's Vicious Delicious. The genre seemed to jump the shark around that time. Looking back Goa Trance was the real trance and by 2000 it was already starting to go down the shitter.
Goa trance was a great genre in the 90s. After that it went downwards (with Filteria & Suntrip 2004 revival from death of the genre but on life support). It got completely overshadowed by this abomination called psytance which I don't like.
The specific album you mentioned, has two tracks I like (Heavyweight and Suliman) because I saw a fellow on YouTube using a guitar to 1:1 the riffs. It was that good that I donated to him. But otherwise I've never been much of a fan of IM. I find they're overrated.
When I think of goa trance I think of names like Astral Projection, Green Nuns Of The Revolution, Hallucinogen, Man With No Name, Miranda, Prana, Transwave and many of these dabbled into the psytrance genre. Some came back!
I'll mention some of my favourites: Hallucinogen live at DNA Lounge (2001?), Paul Oakenfold's Essential Mix ('Goa silver and gold mix', '94), any 90s live set by Astral Projection (there are many), and Imperial Project / Goa Syndrome (all of which were released on MP3.com). Also, any remix by MWNN and AP is gold.
Whilst I do like a lot of Infected Mushroom's stuff I've always seen them as the cheesy, commercial, "like it ironically" side of psy-trance. I don't consider them truly representative of psy-trance, at least the eurocentric versions I listen to.
Although I do like the variety that has developed, especially when there's multi-room club and it's possible to walk around and find whatever fits your current mood and energy level.
They have a really wide range. I don’t listen to the vocal heavy “recent” stuff but they have very good songs and in particular very well orchestrated albums where you barely notice the track changes.
My favorites to put on while focus working are Classical Mushroom and Outdoor Party Vol 3. The latter can be hard to find for some reason but imo is their best.
Sometimes I'm in the mood for the vocal stuff sometimes not so much. Nonetheless, I feel they created their very own niche over the years. They even did dubstep back when it was cool. Sometimes while listening to their stuff I feel that undescribable warm feeling you get when you stumble upon art.
They host an annual dessert rave and go for a 4 hour retro set starting just before the sun rises. Been there, felt like I've seen the light. It was spiritual.
2000 was the year when the Goa regional government decided they had had enough of skint backpackers and beach parties, and wanted to attract tourists who would spend more money, not look so obviously like drug-takers, and do whatever they do more out of sight of the state’s conservative population. I feel that the Goa trance genre had peaked years before, but as an end year, 2000 seems fitting.
