Mini-reviews-Suicidal Tendencies and Killing Joke

Suicidal Tendencies/No mercy-No Mercy Fool/The suicidal family Suicidal records 2010 In recent year countless bands have re-recorded their own music and the results have been as varied as the bands who have recorded them. If you were to ask me what band should re-record some of their old material then it would be unlikely that Suicidal Tendencies would be towards the top of that list. Even if I had to pick from their material I would of course choose their classic self-titled release. However they chose to re-record some material from their sophomore album "Join the army". Now I remember hearing that album when it came out and was left feeling cold. It was a step down from the debut in both pace and intensity. So I wasn't exactly thrilled when I heard they were re-recording tracks from it. They proved me wrong because the versions presented come firing out fast with more energy and spirit than I have heard from this band since their debut. There is speed, heaviness, aggressive vocals, shredding fretwork and a pounding rhythm section. If the songs had been good this time around then the band would have had hooked back then, but better late than never. There are also songs from No Mercy which was a side project for some members. It's a seamless fit though because the songs from both acts are similar in style and in quality. Add this album to the list of pleasant surprises for 2010. Killing joke-Absolute dissent Universal 2010 Killing Joke have been a huge influence on plenty of artists over the last almost 30 years including Metallica, Ministry, Prong and Kurt Cobain. The band has certainly gone through their share of line-ups changes over the years with the drummer position being the spot that has seen the greatest amount of turnover. Despite those personnel changes the band has managed to knock out an abum every couple years although their most productive period was during the 80's. During their career they have ripped though numerous musical styles including post-punk, metal, pop and early industrial. The major hype surrounding their new release was due to the fact that it is their first full length release with the original line-up in 28 years. Instead of following up on the sound of the albums released by the original line-up, Absolute Dissent is much more of a combination of the various sounds that this band has done over their thirty plus year career. Not a bad idea because at this point in their career no one is expecting them to re-invent the wheel and they have so many different sounds to choose from. Add to that a slightly raw almost live style production and this album begins to live up to some of the hype that's been swirling around for the last few months. They deliver crunching guitars, funky bass lines as well as some dark atmospheric moments as well. It was almost easy to be blinded by the strong moments on this album because there many. However a few plays found me knowing I liked the album, but getting a definite sense that they tried so hard to please everyone except perhaps themselves. There are some real crushing songs on here so many that they almost made me forget the couple of predictable ones. In the end "Absolute Dissent" is a fine effort with good results, but not the masterpiece that many hoped for.