SS Decontrol
The Kids Will Have Their Say

The Bostonians SSD or rather SS Decontrol are one of the many bands from the Hardcore Straight-edge scene of the eighties that remained in the shadows.

The album "The Kids Will Have Their Say," released in 1982 and famous for its rebellious cover, is structured in the simplest way: composed of noisy chords, a heavy drum, and vocals made of angry shouts.

The songs are very short, all hovering around a minute, fortunately, the record has eighteen of them, but many are so similar to each other that it's barely possible to distinguish one from another.

Among the heap, however, emerge "Fight Theme" their most famous track, the fantastic title-track "The Kids Will Have Their Say" or the frenzied "Teach me violence" only forty-two seconds long.

If one flaw is to be listed in this work, it is precisely the monotony of the tracks. Many of the songs are measured and slow, accompanied by the highly off-key and lamenting (in its characteristic way) voice of the singer. There is no cohesion, the album flows by, and the listener waits for it to end, hoping for a sudden twist, but in this case, in vain. The rhythms are not capable of leading the audience anywhere, but they only manage to bewilder, given the particular acidic and heavy sound. Technically, SS Decontrol has no value, this we know is not important, but even their compositional ability, except for the aforementioned songs and few other tracks, leaves one fully dissatisfied.

In the ideological part of the band, we find a full disgust towards drugs and alcohol, as is customary for other positive hardcore bands, an attack on society, on violent police, and a hymn to power for people subdued by institutions. "The Kids Will Have Their Say" like SSD itself has remained a semi-unknown album, in this case, the explanations are perceptible.

I have nothing more to add, the album is not among my favorites, and I believe there are many other works that should be acquired before this one.