I’d like you all to welcome the masters of reinvention to the reviewing stable. Not content with releasing one of the best modern ska albums in ‘Destruction By Definition‘, they then proceeded to change direction completely and cobble together a wonderful collection of 2 minute blistering hardcore tracks entitled ‘Battle Hymns‘. If that wasn’t enough, they then threw a complete curveball at their fan base with the release of their self-titled bubblegum pop record. Add to that list 2001’s ‘Steal This Record’, which attempted to combine all their previous incarnations (and succeeded, in my eyes) and you have a complex, innovative and wonderfully refreshing band. Yes, im talking about The Suicide Machines.
In this age of political unrest and governmental disillusionment it’s no surprise that the ‘Machines have increased the focus on war, poverty and general politics with this release. Moving away from the likes of ‘New Girl’ and ‘Islands’ from their youth, they’ve matured and, in the most part, offer a mildly clichéd yet strong political standpoint on the lyrical side of things. The lyrics on offer tend to occupy the middle ground between the intelligent and original left wing opinions of, say, Dillinger 4 and the mindless sloganeering of Anti Flag. For example, ‘Your Silence’ offers up a commentary on the importance of using your voice to influence the world, but on the flipside, the opening verse to ‘Invisible Government’ is the lyrical equivalent of writing blatantly obvious political facts on a post it note and stapling it to someone’s head.
While it never actually seems like the music takes a back seat to the lyrics on ‘A Match and Some Gasoline’, im sure some will argue it does, so I will counter the argument in advance. While the ‘Machines have never been the most intricate of bands, musically, they know how to string a song together to make it painfully memorable. ‘Your Silence’ for example, is a blistering journey through 2 and a half minutes of hardcore punk rock played at full speed. Coupled with a chorus which will no doubt spurn a gargantuan sing a long at every live gig and a spoken word interlude followed by a ska / reggae breakdown and you have a simple song packed full of unexpected and original moments that raise it from average to great. This uncanny knack to make something simple into something wonderful has always been the ace in the pack for the Suicide Machines and it is constantly on show here. For a few perfectly executed examples, see the ska core influenced ‘Kaleidoscope’, the rip roaring gang chorus of ‘Seized Up’ and the gobsmackingly straightforward yet mind bendingly pleasing ‘Nuclear Family, Nuclear War’ chorus on opener ‘Burning in the Aftermath’.
While at times, the ska heavy songs on ‘AMASG’ tend to drag a little, there isn’t really a poor song on show with the 80’s hardcore influenced numbers going down like an absolute storm. While at the same time, the overall standard is not as outstanding as I was hoping, the fact remains that this is a highly enjoyable record by one of my favourite bands. They haven’t disappointed me yet they haven’t really raised the bar anymore than the extraordinarily high standards that they had already established. Some people have been raving about this like the second coming of Christ, or something similar, and while it’s not quite that world changing, it is a fantastic, if short lived, continuation of form for the Suicide Machines.
Ross