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Suicidal Tendencies > Lights... Camera... Revolution > Reviews
Suicidal Tendencies - Lights... Camera... Revolution

Dying to Live on Top… These Spotlight Kids - 91%

bayern, September 4th, 2021

Still a recruit in the suicidal army… can’t seem to get out of it, but I couldn’t care less… cause I love it here. I mean what’s not to love… psycho, good; crossover, good; humour, good… thrash, gooood! And all this coming from the sunny beaches of California… you’ve got to be kidding me!

No, no joke here, this is some seriously fun stuff provided by one of the most celebrated US metal acts of the late-80’s/early-90’s who rose from street hooligans to acclaimed artists in the matter of a few years, with lights and cameras directed at them from all directions. Yep, Mike Muir and Co. enjoyed way more than the proverbial 15-min of fame back in those days, becoming more aggressive and thrashier with each subsequent release, to the skaters and psycho-ward dwellers’ utter delight.

And also to the voluminous thrash fanbase’s who saw no reason why they shouldn’t embrace this gang’s art before it had become too rebellious. And the signs of some form of rebellion are already here… I mean, you can’t open the saga with a confrontational speedster like “You Can't Bring Me Down” and be an obedient, docile youth. Absolutely not, and hats off to the guys for preserving the high entertainment factor in this more aggressive environment which later gets both “Alone” and ”Lovely”, a cool humorous duo which straddles between the merry crossover rhythms of the former and the uplifting funky novelties of the latter. “Revolution” is spelt literally with the steady more seriously-executed “Give It Revolution”, but more jarring thrashy funkisms (“Send Me Your Money”) come served later to stir the emotions, including with the excellent semi-technical delight “Emotion No. 13”, the anti-disco inferno “Disco's Out, Murder's In” a wonderful pummeling thrasher, obliterating the disco lovers with a few notes down the line, the few survivors from this mirthful mayhem squashed by the steam-rolling mid-pacer “Go'n Breakdown”, Muir’s traditionally pretty effective nasal croons assisted by curt shouty choruses.

Nope, you can’t bring these lads down even if you try supernaturally hard. No wonder they were picked for the Clash of the Titans tour shortly after this album’s release, proudly standing right next to their colleagues Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament… yes, they were the odd selection, skaters, psychos, crossoverers, what-else-not was sticking out of their resumes; but they did matter in their own jocund goofy way, a team with a wide palette under their sleeves, feeling equally comfortable under several umbrellas, not selling themselves cheaply to any ruling trend. And it wasn’t only due to the fashionable thrashy stance that they had acquired, their music was totally arresting with an inordinately high memorability factor, so easy to distinguish from the rest that one’s tip of the tongue couldn’t help but be itched by the “suicyco thrash” tag… this one not uttered legitimately, but well-deserved by the band, one of the few outfits who never stopped joking along the way, retaining their sense of humour and propensity for easy living all the way to…

the big groovy infection; yep, Muir decided to develop the funky variations heard here into a fulsome opus, but under a different moniker. It was good that the groove was kept away from the repertoire of this new enterprise, despite the name (Infectious Grooves), but the funk was all over, making one wonder as to how much from this would leak onto the next Suicidal endeavour. Not much at all, but the deep sigh of relief must have been partly stifled by the new direction taken by the Muir gang, their rebellious art acquiring a fairly dark, not so humorous anymore, progressive flair… as a response to the numetal vogues? Nah, not really: this was a more suppressed, minimalistic outburst of creativity, which was very surprisingly embraced readily by hordes of fans, both old and new, making it the band’s best-selling creation.

Alas, this experimentation was never repeated in the same form, the road to a full-fledged fiasco not hurdled successfully by a re-release of the debut and by the attempt to re-capture lost thrash/crossover ground (“Suicidal for Life”), the guys pissing it all away on a string of very tepid, inept efforts before hitting a relative high with “World Gone Mad” in 2016, helped there by one of the clashed titans, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo. Yeah, as the old crossover postulate says so well, “No one can bring you down as deplorably as your own self”… and bring sobriety in a camp temporarily blinded by their short spell with the spotlight.

Mike Muir Brings This Album Down - 30%

Testament1990, November 8th, 2020
Written based on this version: 1990, CD, Epic Records

I once used to really enjoy this band back in high school and once in a blue moon still do to an extent with very, very, VERY few songs being enjoyable in the slightest. However this album here Lights...Camera...Revolution is filled with some of the most cringey moments I've ever heard throughout a thrash record. Throughout Suicidal Tendencies classic string of albums from 1983-1990 this is by far one of their worst if not the worst thrash album from a bay area band that grew in popularity over their evolution or in this case with Suicidal Tendencies de-evolution. This album is a mashup of the greatest subgenre of metal to ever exist thrash and then a slew of other worthless influences like rap, alternative, and funk and funk isn't even all that bad but here it's horrendous and none of these musical stylings clash well with the vocals coming from the most cringiest front man thrash had ever been plagued with, Mike Muir.

There is hardly any good in this release and there for damn sure is nothing even remotely great about it at all aside from Rocky Georges solo at the very beginning of the record on "You Can't Bring Me Down" which is by far the best moment in its entire 42 minutes of angsty mindless drivel. Yes that's right the best part and only good song is at the very beginning of the record. The production here and guitar sound is really good Rocky George was always a talented player and gave his all on these records, hell even the band was really tight and talented but was held back by front man and leader Mike Muir's terrible direction taken after 1987's Join the Army. I almost wish they never tried to inject a more metal sound into their hardcore punk vibe they had on their debut, which still isn't great by any means but at least with that album the songs were not taken and written seriously and were good parody tunes to sit back and have a laugh at. This here is like a joke of band trying to put out a serious release and it just falling flat on its face into the pools of mediocrity.

Now that the good is out of the way I can finally discuss the staggering amount of bad contained in this record. First and foremost I hear people complain about how Phil Anselmo took this more "hard ass" approach to his lyrics and vocal style on Pantera's 1992 success Vulgar Display of Power and while I do agree they dumbed down their sound post Cowboys from Hell they never stooped to this level of low's trying to be angsty and "hard ass-ish" within their music. Mike Muir flaunts around this record like he is just the hottest shit on the block with the most cheesy verse and chorus lines I've ever heard packed into an album. I shouldn't have to provide examples of this as it's almost the every time he opens his mouth he's got something either super cringe worthy, edgy, or tough to say and unlike Anselmo he has one of the most softest voices for even trying to come off the way he does on this release. In "Lost Again" he bobs around with snarky verse lines coming off like he is some tough gangster just diminishing the heavy vibe the music in the song has. He tones this attitude down in "Alone" which starts off a bit sappy but then kicks into a more faster pace with Muir not being overbearingly cringey, but this ramps up to new heights on the next track "Lovely". I can't even begin to describe how bad this track is if we reviewed songs here "Lovely" would get a -100 percent the song is just horrendous and is by far the worst Suicidal Tendencies song of the classic era. There wasn't much more Muir could have done to make it any more worse than what it already is. "Give it Revolution" isn't that bad and is a break in the action from the rest of the trash material on this release.

"Get Whacked" has a horned section intro and breaks into yet another song where Muir has to show how hard he is with his Billy Corgan esque voice giving reasons why people should "Get Whacked". "Send Me Your Money" is a more alternative sounding number which to me is more of a joke tune like the songs on their debut proclaiming how you should send them your money as if their albums sold horribly back in those days. You get the point this album and band is the Insane Clown Posse of thrash metal. Dull, lame, boring, and uninspiring as all hell. The last 3 tracks "Emotion No. 13", "Disco's Out, Murder's In", and "Go'n Breakdown" continue with the same trend as explained before a tight sounding band letting Muir spread his "beautiful lyrical poetry" across some good sounding music. "Go'n Breakdown" is another good example of Muir showing off his "hard ass" side which is just as laughable as the songs on their debut. I once watched a interview in 1992 where Muir was bashing on Pantera pretty hard about their glam days and how they supposedly are trying to capitalize on the heavier sound and it was just such a "oh the irony" moment for me as Pantera's glam records pummel anything Muir and his band could ever shit out. Dimebag alone at 17 years old wrecks anything Muir could ever do in his musical career.

Overall this record is a train wreck due to Muir. This is Muir at his most cringeworthy during the classic thrash golden years of 1983-1991. The band does perform well here though there is hardly any bad I can even say about them. It's just abysmal that this is Trujillo's most shining moment of his career as he grooves along with precise technical basslines throughout the record. Rocky is also at the top of his game here giving us some of his best solos during his tenure with Mike Muir. This album gets a 30% from me and that's quite generous but for the band being great and somehow still shining through at times with such a disastrously terrible singer they deserve something other than below that. I rarely jam on the first track "You Can't Bring Me Down" maybe if one of my friends decide to jam on it ill listen. I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone but maybe a edgy 15 year old testosterone filled kid, but even then I would be too embarrassed to be the guy who shows anyone this album. If you do waste your time with this release the first song is decent and will sound good the first couple listens but it soon wears out its welcome fast. Suicidal Tendencies was much better as a hardcore punk band and even then they weren't even that great. I will end this by saying once again Mike Muir's vocals and ideas are garbage and will ruin any band he's in.

Lights...Camera...AMAZING! - 100%

HammerofJusticeCrushesYou, August 12th, 2016
Written based on this version: 1990, CD, Epic Records

At the age of 13 (coincidence?), I pledged my allegiance to the Suicidal Army. This was courtesy of my stepdad, who introduced me to this incredible thrash metal band! Since enlisting as a soldier, I have heard every studio release that Suicidal has put out there, and will listen to their new album, World Gone Mad, when it comes out later this year. This album, by far, is the greatest release they've ever put out, with their strongest lineup to date (Mike Muir on vocals, Rocky George on lead guitar, Mike Clark on rhythm guitar, Robert Trujillo on bass, and R.J. Herrera on drums), and their strongest set of songs on one album (10 that continue to blow me away, even after repeated listens). With that out of the way, let's see what the album has to offer...

From the opening notes of "You Can't Bring Me Down" to the closing lyrics of "Go'n Breakdown," this album will SLAY you each time you proceed to expose your eardrums to it. The first time I heard Rocky's mellow opening to the album, I knew I was in store for a tasty piece of ear candy when the intro exploded into the twin guitars of Rocky and Mike Clark and Mike Muir speaking, "What the hell's going on around here?!" "You Can't Bring Me Down" is so explosive, so full of raw energy, that writers Muir and George really put their heads together and created a work of art. The rest of side one is basically in the same style, save for "Alone," which is mellow and its lyrics are just the same, though it picks up a little through certain parts of the song. Muir's disdain for the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) shows up quite a few times throughout this album, with Tipper Gore and the Bakkers (Jim and Tammy Faye) even mentioned by name. Time to flip this bad boy over to side two...

The opening track to side two, "Get Whacked," was described by Allmusic as "Motörhead-ish," and the song does fit the mold in a vague, yet omnipresent way. The Mikes pushed this one to the forefront, and the off-key orchestration and fanfare that lead into the twin riffs did it for me when I first heard this song. Side two is all thrash and no mellowness, with some offering cynicism and satire in their lyrics (e.g. "Send Me Your Money"), but never fail to hit hard with their instrumentation. My personal favorite song from side two is "Go'n Breakdown," which has outstanding lyrics and instrumentation. Taking all 10 songs into consideration, they each have their own sound, and provide the listener with a sense of security in knowing that they're listening to an absolutely perfect work of thrash...

In the end, Suicidal took the ball and ran with it, and Lights...Camera...Revolution! was no fluke. The peak of their writing and musicianship, as R.J. left the band before the recording of The Art of Rebellion for "unspecified personal differences," but he was thanked in the liner notes of that album for "8 outstanding years" with the band. Though Suicidal's next album was a strong release, no album, before or after this one, could top what this outstanding album brought to the table. No matter how old this album gets, it will age like a fine wine...

What? SUICDIAL TENDENCIES are evolving! - 90%

raspberrysoda, October 3rd, 2015

Ah, Suicidal Tendencies. After numerous lineups and genre-changing, this LP marks the end of old-school thrash metal and a new era for Suicidal. Musically, the band has evolved drastically from their first album. From angry hardcore to a more metal-oriented sound in How Will I Laugh Tomorrow and here, hardcore influences were left behind almost in their entirety and slight funky influence was added as caused by the addition of talented bassist Robert Trujillo, who was using the funky slap-and-pop playing style. This album has everything: semi-ballads, quasi-ballads, breakdowns, intense drumming, melodic fast leads with flashing solos and a great vocalist named Mike Muir. Mike does an excellent job in delivering his vocals- both thrash grunts and his emotional moaning that was used heavily in the previous album.

The thrash parts of the album and are intense and heavy, and with the guitar playing and drumming in tracks such as Disco's Out, Murder's In can put Reign in Blood and Among the Living to shame. Mike's and George's dual riffing is perfect in every aspect, both technically and emotionally, and feature some extremely unorthodox patterns and chord structures (Give Me Revolution and Go'n Breakdown, for example) which show the potential that those guitarists manage to show in their Suicidal career. The funk parts, such as in Lovely are more Living Color-esque than Suicidal, but are extremely precise and catchy (Rob Trujillo nailed every single note in this entire LP), and are usually accompanied by mid-paced thrash riffs. This album has no fillers and no let-downs so far.

The lyrics are super-intelligent but are delivered with a heavy sass and a punk attitude. The lyrics range from anti-government, to metal worship and the Suicidal-famous emotional lyrics that are very uncommon among thrash bands. The band deliver those in a very painful way, accompanied with emotional riffs and solos with Mike's tortured siren-like moaning which suits the lyrics perfectly. The production is great and emphasizes every played note and doesn't dim the vocals throughout the entire album, which undoubtedly make this the best Suicidal Tendencies album ever recorded and one of the top-notch metal records of all time. Mandatory.