Wasted Penguinz - Wistfulness Album Review

Wistfulness is the first album release for Swedish Hardstyle duo Wasted Penguinz, consisting of Pontuz Bergman and Jon Brandt-Cederhäll, was released on 24th October on Toff Music. The Swedish duo has kept true to their style since combining their talents in 2008. The album is packed with uniquely melodic songs with a sense of euphoria that allows them to differentiate themselves from other Hardstyle producers.

Roché Davies, aka Elemental, is a pioneer in the South African Hardstyle community and holds the album in very high regard which has already inspired his own tracks and reputes the album as probably the finest Hardstyle packaged album to date. Elemental describes the album as: “..best felt as a full package, something that will completely relax you, but at the same time make you want to go out and party hard. I feel it really filters all human emotion on the open road and evokes such power. The lyrical content is inspiring and beautiful. The emotion and depth of the album is really felt with the intense melodies and mesmerizing vocal work by Jon.” Elemental also touched on the significant impact that Wasted Penguinz have made on the Hardstyle scene with a more accessible sound containing deep emotion and euphoria.

Very rarely does one find an album in which every track has something amazing to offer, however, I firmly believe Wistfulness possesses the ability to fill the hearts of many Hardstyle-lovers as well as attract new listeners to the harder styles of dance music. Tracks such as Out of Reach, Blinded and Those Were the Days are a must, and were common favourites between Roché and I, with my personal favourite being, Together, their collaboration with Toneshifterz. In my opinion, Blinded is a typical track, in which Wasted Penguinz demonstrate what they do best - Mixing euphoric melodies with uplifting lyrics!

Along with the album, Wasted Penguinz’s Youtube channel, Penguinz-TV, comes highly recommended. These guys have a great sense of humour with each episode leaving you laughing for days, which leaves Elemental still questioning if the music we hear comes from the same two guys we watch on Youtube (LOL!)

The tracklist is as follows:

1. Blinded
2. Almost There
3. Sydney
4. You Can’t Pull Me Down
5. Sorrow (with Rebourne)
6. Falling
7. I Miss You (with Chris One)
8. Florida
9. Out Of Reach (feat Mattias Welin)
10. Raindropz
11. Confined Thoughts
12. Wistfulness
13. Extension
14. Those Were The Days
15. Together (with Toneshifterz)
16. International Departure
17. Endless
18. Wat (with Chris One)
19. What!!!
20. Venice Beach
21. Everlasting

Bonus Tracks:
Out Of Reach (Instrumental)
Those Were The Days (Instrumental)

Reviewed by Jawaad Hanslo