It is our honour to launch a fresh section of reviews titled “Flashback” which will involve our team writing about one legendary and unforgettable track regularly to give you a run down memory lane and give life to a track which even today is talked about and heard by all or at least most of us and just refuses to die out!

Its an even bigger honour to launch this new section with the stupendous track, “Beautiful Burnout” by none other than the legendary electronica act famously called Underworld.

Underworld are an English electronic music group, and the principal name under which musicians Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.

It also proved to be the base for one of the worlds most sought after Producer/DJ’s, the extremely talented Darren Emerson.

Hyde and Smith recruited DJ Darren Emerson, and after several minor releases and remixes as Lemon Interupt and Steppin’ Razor readopted the Underworld moniker. Following this, they produced danceable techno as a trio (“Underworld Mk2″). The addition of Emerson completed Underworld’s techno/rock fusion and seemed to moderate some of the poppier elements in the original duo’s work.

Coming to the track, Maintaining a darkly intense undercurrent throughout, Beautiful Burnout is pretty much classic Underworld; shimmering synths and pretty splashes of keys provide occasional respite from the bleakness, but the eerie pulsing of the bass doesn’t relent. Hyde’s vocals are heavily treated in effects, so much so that at times they are barely resemble a murmur but the bitter sadness underpinning the vocal melody is the most striking feature of the song.

A clever concoction of dark-yet-danceable trance with a healthy dose of angst, Beautiful Burnout isn’t a huge departure from the Underworld of yore, but hits the standards that we’ve come to expect from the outfit.