Suicidal Tendencies
Still Cyco After All These Years

THE REVIEW

One of the cult bands formed in the whirlwind of the American hardcore of the eighties is undoubtedly represented by Suicidal Tendencies, led by that street kid known as Mike “Cyco” Muir.

Although the attitude, sounds, and charge of corrosive irony and provocation of this group are of clear punk origin, Suicidal Tendencies managed to gain a great following even among fans of extreme metal which was taking its first steps during those years and achieving great success thanks to the usual renowned names and the myriad of bands coming out of the Bay Area of San Francisco.
This was thanks to a personal way of presenting a certain type of sound, very crossover, that combines fast hardcore and more rhythmic and cadenced pieces in a distinctly heavy style. The album I propose is the reworking of their debut “Suicidal Tendencies” with the addition of three bonus tracks, namely, “Still Cyco After All These Years.” Obviously, this reproduction boasts a better recording than the original and, therefore, a cleaner and more pleasant sound.

Musically speaking, the album is a punch in the stomach. Tracks like “Two - Sides Politics,” “I Shot Reagan,” “Won’t Fall in Love Today,” “Memories of Tomorrow,” “Fascist Pig” are like slashes that pass by you swiftly like lightning. Mike's singing is powerful and equally fast, nothing like the gargles of the front-men of the various nu groups that are currently so popular. But the album remains intense even in the more rhythmic and obsessive tracks like “Subliminal,” “I Saw Your Mommy,” “Suicidal Failure.”
But the true strength of the Los Angeles combo is to be found in the lyrics, both in the purely ironic ones and those with a more hardcore attitude, thus denouncing the societal ills. In “Two-Sides Politics,” Muir's anger, cynicism, and anarchic charge are vividly portrayed (“I’m not anti-society, society is anti-me, I’m not anti-religion, religion is anti-me, I’m not anti-anything, I just wanna be free…”).

“I Shot Reagan” is a clear message aimed at the former U.S. President (in reality, his “wish” is symbolically directed against the institution itself, as evidenced by the small note where it is explicitly stated that the fact that at the time of the record's release the office was held by Clinton did not change the situation at all). Institutions are also targeted in, precisely, “Institutionalized,” where they represent the enemy in which society is mired and must combat. In “Memories of Tomorrow,” instead, the anti-militarist charge of Muir and company explodes. But the peak of irony and provocation at the same time is reached in the lyrics of “I Saw Your Mommy,” where they boast about the corpse of a friend's mother slowly decaying, and especially in “Suicidal Failure,” where Muir plays a suicidal aspirant who, failing his attempts despite various methods (gun, poison, “drove my car off a ridge,” “overdosed on heroin”), begs his father to kill him.

An album, in conclusion, that will undoubtedly delight the tastes of both lovers of the most politicized and angry hardcore, as well as old fans of the typically Bay Area sounds.