I’ve been a fan of Hyper ever since I bought his entry into the mix world Wired. He’s got a knack for gritty and fantastically energetic breaks tracks. His 2006 album We Control turned out to be a bit of a gem, one that took a bit of time, but eventually grew upon the listener very quickly. The great thing about Hatfield’s (Hyper) style is that it adapts to what’s in and out. Both We Control and his latest album, slightly worryingly titled Suicide Tuesday, feature him on the production along with the band that was formed over the production cycle of We Control.

Things kick off with the first single off the album Centre Attraction, which comes across as a stompy punk/electro hybrid that drops squeals, glitches and some vocals that tell celebrities where to stick it play along greatly with the rest of the track. The instrumental monster Jabba lays down an epic club thumper loaded to the brim with filtered and wonky lead synths, and kicking the doors down with energy. Mid track everything is stripped off and the atmospherics seep in until the wonk, filters and massive kicks tear down the walls and leading the track out on a fantastic note. Proving that vocals need not be around, Jabba would be the highlight of Suicide Tuesday.

Touch is said to “have been an experiment with a track with 150 bpm.”. It works, whilst it does seem a bit out of place compared to the rest of the album, it does fit because of the Hyper touch. Ex-Prodigy dancer Leeroy Thornhill has his vocals glitched over the top of a swirling, gritty lead and the kicks are still as thick as ever.

Another big highlight is Hyper’s collaboration with Odissi with Replica. With what could be accused of being blatant rip off of the main guitar riff of We Control if it was anyone other than Hyper, this is one of the albums strong points. It’s brutal and Odissi’s sexy yet angry vocals contribute greatly to the aggressiveness of the track.

That’s probably one of the album’s strongest points: Hyper has refused to let up on the aggressive nature that he’s shown from previous efforts. It seeps through on this, but it’s far better structured and thought out. Another admirable thing about Suicide Tuesday is that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Similar to how The Plump DJs do their thing; release the album with all the edits needed and gauge the popularity of tracks and then release the DJ mix versions. Tuesday has every single right to do that, and there are tracks on here that would decimate sound systems.

There’s an organic quality about Suicide Tuesday, similar to Pendulum and The Prodigy’s latest efforts where the productions you hear are actually performed by a band, and can be performed live too. That’s not saying that non-organic sounding albums with relatively no live percussion are bad, but Hyper has nailed a great little cross over between the use of electronics and live instruments.