Marco Carola – Hypertension E.P.

The entire side, and namely Acid Tension, is as good of a reason as any to show how and why mr. Carola gained his reputation and why his records were hot items in every self respected DJ's case during mid to late nineties.
A1, Peak is a stomping, monotonous, percussion driven techno burner, with (as my fellow reviewer pointed out) elements of harsher industrial touches. It's a very noisy track as well, loaded with certain hisses and similar sounds, and combined with the furious 4x4 back to basics techno drum kicks, it was a guaranteed winner in any club.
Speaking of guaranteed winners, Acid Tension was a huge hit, and to this day remains a desert island track in Marco Carola's opus. A true to form techno banger, minimal with a menacing yet groovy bass line, ferocious and driving drum rolls, and a very distinct acid line throughout. In all its simplicity and, well, formulaic structure, he created one of the back then obbligatory peak time stompers. A really minimal (not in the blasphemous modern way, mind you!!!), brain tickling acid techno classic, which, not to confuse, doesn't have anything in common with the London acid techno sound and stuff released on Smitten or Routemaster, but is catchy and instantly recognizible. The acid, while not complex or overly in your face, is very well pulled off, in a manner that it always gets emphasized more than the bass or the percussion. Remarkable, and it's still one of my top five Carola tracks of all times.
The B side is nothing as memorable. Andante and Loop 2000, while none of them bad, are not even remotely as distinct and colossal as the A side. For Naples sound addicts, they are a must though. Two loopy techno tracks, where once you hear the first thirty seconds you know you've heard it all. However, with a heavy dose of funk and nods to a more laid back, tech house sound, and a higher cross over appeal, I think both would have been more suitable for a label like Carola's own Design Music. I reckon they don't blend in very well with the outrageously wild A side. Regardless, if you've heard Marco's work on that imprint, you are likely to dig those tracks as well.
This was one of Carola's biggest hits and best selling 12" ever. It strikes a fine balance between his monotone and harder work on One Thousand Records and the more moderate, groovy and funky feel of Design Music. For fans of the man's aesthetic this is a must. I will however stress out that to my knowledge, Acid Tension is a track like no other in his catalogue, and this whole EP was more than worth my ducats back in the day for that one alone. Ah, the memories... Luckily, "Hypertension EP" is still pretty much widely available for accessible prices.
These tracks were latel re-worked and re-released on the "Hypertension '99 EP", but the remake couldn't cast a shadow on masterpieces like Peak or Acid Tension.

Primate is one of my top 3 favorite labels out there and this is one of the prime examples why is that.
Carola once again pulls of something huuuuge here! "Peak"'s smouldering industrial build up sound is great (you might gonna prefer that one), and "Andante" and "Loop 2000" wicked too works well and written in the very good Naples-Italian style as usual.
But "Acid Tension" is the incredibly well done work here! What a fantastic piece of music this is!!
In my opinion by a mile one of the most amazing, menacing techno assaults of all times this world has ever seen. No matter how and when once it's unleashed on the people my friend, there's no escape...
Relentlessly moving forward, highly professional robotic acid madness twisting, tortureing, manipulating and thrilling the s*** out of each and everyone of them. Unbelievable!
I mean, this IS! super serious. One of those tracks I just cannot believe and blows me the f*** away every time I listen to it. The '99 remix is not as driving but very good too.
But don't let it fool you this was the earlier one and was released a decade ago by now in '97.
It's way ahead of it's time and rules any I mean ANY dareing, thinking dancefloors out there. It really is unstopable!