Cosmic Gate

Cosmic Gate, the German duo from Krefeld, first built recognition through hard trance productions before evolving into a more mainstream progressive trance approach that helped establish them among the genre’s leading acts, with packed arena dates and a long string of club successes. Claus Terhoeven, born in 1972, and Stefan Bossems, born in 1967, both originally from the West German city of Krefeld, crossed paths in 1997 yet only began working together the next year after an unplanned studio encounter. Their early driving singles “The Drums” and “Mental Atmosphere” appeared on EMI in 1999, but real breakthrough arrived when “Fire Wire,” originally the B-side of 2000’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” received a standalone release in 2001. The commanding track reached the U.K. Top Ten and was reworked repeatedly. Its parent album Rhythm & Drums arrived the same year and climbed to number 30 on the German album charts. This was followed by 2002’s No More Sleep, which produced further hit singles such as “Back to Earth” and “The Wave.” In 2003 the duo earned their first placement on DJ Magazine’s Top 100 DJs poll and simultaneously issued the opening volume of their Back 2 Back mix CD series. The second volume, released in 2005, initiated their extended association with Black Hole Recordings.

By the arrival of their third album, 2006’s Earth Mover, Cosmic Gate had moved away from hard trance toward a progressive sound. Sign of the Times, released in 2009, extended that direction with vocal tracks featuring artists such as Emma Hewitt and Aruna. Back 2 the Future, a double-CD set of remixed earlier material, appeared in 2011, as did the duo’s fifth album Wake Your Mind, which contained one of their best-known songs, “Be Your Sound.” They mixed the 2012 edition of Ministry of Sound’s Trance Nation series, founded Wake Your Mind Records in 2013, and launched their weekly Wake Your Mind Radio podcast in April 2014 before issuing their sixth full-length, Start to Feel, shortly afterward. Two volumes of Wake Your Mind Sessions mix CDs followed in 2015 and 2016, while the studio album Materia arrived in 2017, first as two separate digital chapters and later as a complete double CD.