Orbital had already made a strong mark in the UK’s incipient techno scene thanks to singles like “Chime” and “Satan.” After an okay but slightly choppy debut, though, 1993’s Orbital 2 made the case that they were flat-out great album artists, start to stop. Excellent sequencing made the whole feel like a great DJ set as songs like “Lush 3-1” and “Impact (The Earth Is Burning)” made for peak after peak, building up to an exultant remix of a 1992 single, “Halycon + On + On.”

– Ned Raggett

Orbital have become such a fixture of the UK and international dance music and festival landscape, sometimes it’s easy to forget how unique they are. Emerging right at the peak of the acid house explosion, they cut their teeth as one of the few live acts on the circuit in the most twisted and brain-mangled shows and raves. And their second album, where they truly found their feet, burns with the electricity of those early shows. This is music from a moment when it felt like rave and all the associated mental exploration was altering reality, and when you get swept up in its anthemic strangeness it can still feel a bit that way.

– Joe Muggs