Bridging the gap between the electronica and industrial genres is where we find the aggrotech bands. For those of you not already familiar with the term, aggrotech is very basically a harsh form of electronica with a dark and oppressive atmosphere. Suicide Commando is one of the longest serving bands in this field and the brainchild of Johan Van Roy. I must admit that I was surprised to hear that he started the band in the mid 80’s and so they have rather more in common with the early electro industrial acts such as Ministry and Skinny Puppy rather than the more modern aggressive aggrotech bands such as Combichrist and God Module. Now on album number fourteen, ‘When Evil Speaks’ is the latest offering from Mr Van Roy, as he tries to still cut it with the angry youth.
Opening with a Charles Manson style quote we are then invited to ‘Cut_Bleed_Eviscerate’. I should give fair warning at this point and state that if you can’t handle your music without guitars then this is absolutely not an album for you, although if you are willing to accept that you can create a dark and oppressive atmosphere with little more than a few synths and a drum machine and are happy with that, please read on. With heavy influences from early era Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, it manages to convert minimal instrumental input into an engaging and rather catchy style. Van Roy favours the harsh rasped whisper for the most part, although this is subject to various periodic electronic enhancements, although thankfully not in the toe curling autotuned style which has inexplicably gained favour. Whilst a good portion of this album is on the lighter, more suggestive side of nasty, the full on aggro assault gets an airing too on tracks such as ‘When Evil Speaks’ and ‘Attention Whore’ which sounds as if it belongs on a Combichrist album.
There is a distinctly retro sound about ‘Where Evil Speaks’, not just through the basic synth and drum machine sound, but also with the song structures and the heavy (although not excessive) use of samples. I consider this refreshing, especially within this style of music where the trend has been towards trying to push through boundaries in terms of sound, style, and most specifically content where violent misogyny tends to be the popular subject of choice. There is very little in that area here and it’s quite nice to get a break from it to be honest. The bouncy and danceable material on here will find its home in the alternative clubs of the land, and there is a decent amount of it, although where the music is on the lighter side by comparison to many others, I can see many people not finding it quite to their taste.
So where does this leave us? Well, as I said before, if you are an exclusively metal kind of person with no love for the gothic or industrial sounds, then walk away now. If you have a weakness for this kind of music though, then is worth a listen although it’s not outstanding. There are a few clear standout tracks on here in the form of ‘Attention Whore’ ‘Cut_Bleed_Eviscerate’ and the title track, but there is a lot of material that passes you by also, especially given the simplicity of the instrumentation which gives little room to manoeuvre when it comes to variation. It’s by no means a bad effort though and fans of Skinny Puppy, FLA, & Velvet Acid Christ would do well to give this a go. Of course existing Suicide Commando fans will know what to expect and this is a solid addition to the catalogue.
(7/10 – Lee Kimber)
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