Hanging On By A Remix by The Letter Black

Reviewed by Gareth Hills

Released on the heels of the band's 2010 debut, 'Hanging On By A Remix' is, as you will cunningly have worked out, a collection of remixes from that album. Remix albums can be opportunities to hear some genuinely creative work (Linkin Park's 'Reanimation', for instance), or clumsy attempts to graft a club music ethos onto rock tracks. On the whole, this thankfully sticks to the first category. Musically, it's like Trent Reznor producing a collaboration between Linkin Park and Rammstein in a German underground club (it even has a "Berlin After Dark" remix of "All I Want"). It's dark, abrasive, industrial, relentless - aesthetics which play well with the lyrical content of the original songs which reflect brokenness, rejection and betrayal, and the barriers these can be to life and future relationships, but also the hope that can come with God's love and salvation. The remixes are mostly creatively conceived and fun - even a sample from Public Enemy's 'Return to the Terrordrome' finds its way onto 'Wounded'. If there's any criticism to make it would be that the sheer relentlessness of the album, probably explained by the fact that this is a collection of work from disparate artists rather than a cohesive piece of work, occasionally gets a bit too much.