Damage Control – Hypernoia The Remixes (Album – Rarefraction Records)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Format: Digital, CD + download card.
Background/Info: Three years after the successful debut album “Ultranoia” , the international collective Damage Control strikes back with an album featuring ten remixes. Nine songs from “Ultranoia” have been remixed by different artists. Chris Peterson has been again in charge of the mixing and mastering. The download card features one extra remix.
Content: The different remixes and collaborations resulted in a varied work, which remains driven by sophisticated EBM reminding me of FLA, Skinny Puppy and related bands. Remixes were accomplished by Craig Saunders, Phil Western, Gin Devo, Tom Slug, Slighter, Manufacture, Ehsan Gelsi, Sirus and Markus App (2 remixes). Some edits are pure remixes while others have been made together with Damage Control.
+ + + : “Hypernoia” is a cool addition to “Ultranoia”. I definitely prefer the ‘regular’ album, which remains a true masterpiece, but this album reveals a great remix of “Reasons” Phil Western, transposing the original song into a Trance-Body cut. I also like the “Trauma”-remix in collaboration with Markus App, which stands for intelligent EBM. “Hell’s Gate” has been also remixed in a cool and surprising Ambient edit by Ehsan Gelsi. And I also have to mention the dubby “Sirus Remix” of “Hate Crime”.
– – – : Remixes are a cool bonus to the “Ultranoia”-album, but the original songs definitely remain the best ones!
Conclusion: If you don’t know Damage Control, you better first listen to “Ultranoia” and then “Hypernoia”.
Best songs: “Reasons – Phil Western Remix”, “Trauma – Damage Control vs. Markus App Remix”, “Hell’s Gate – Ehsan Gelsi Remix”.
Rate: 7½.
Artist: www.damagecontrolofficial.com / www.facebook.com/damagecontrol
About Damage Control
Damage Control is an international electro-industrial collaboration centred on Bill Barsby and Richard Thacker, both from Birmingham, England and now based in Australia, with Alex Wise (Sydney) and Markus App (Germany). Barsby founded the project in Melbourne in 2012 with Thacker and Wise; App joined as the lineup took shape. The debut album “Ultranoia” was released in 2017 on the band’s own Rarefraction Records, mixed and mastered by Chris Peterson with sonic finishing by Greg Reely, and featured guest vocals by Craig Huxtable of OHMelectronic. Side-Line reviewed it in September 2017 and spoke with Barsby in the April 2018 ‘Click Interview’ with Damage Control.
“Hypernoia The Remixes” was released on 15 December 2020 as a download and on CD with a download card. The ten tracks are “World In Decline (Craig Saunders Remix)”, “Reasons (Phil Western Remix)”, “City Of Ruins (Gin Devo Remix)”, “After The Fire (DC vs Tom Slug Remix)”, “Trauma (DC vs Markus App Remix)”, “City Of Ruins (Slighter Remix)”, “Angst (DC vs Markus App Remix)”, “Ghost In The Attic (DC vs Manufacture Remix)”, “Hell’s Gate (Ehsan Gelsi Remix)” and “Hate Crime (Sirus Remix)”. Chris Peterson again mixed and mastered the album.
Work on a third album, provisionally titled “Oblivion Grid”, brought in Leæther Strip as a recurring guest vocalist, with Peterson producing and Reely mastering. That cycle produced the Metropolis Records singles Rage (with Leæther Strip) (January 2026) and “Oblivion” (April 2026), the “Master Of Silence” EP (June 2026) and Manifesto with OHMelectronic (July 2026). “Hypernoia The Remixes” is the band’s second full-length release.
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