Suicide - American Supreme

I was a bit surprised to find that we owned this record, Suicide's fifth and final studio album, released in 2002. I'm sure that I must have listened to it at some point or another, but I'm afraid that this release has little of the sonic mania of their earlier records, particularly their debut, and so it did not stick with me. It certainly is not nearly as jarring as their first album and their embrace of slick dance music combined with relatively restrained (for the most part) vocal performances, meant that there was little here to bear repeated listenings.

With plenty of emphasis on dance music/disco rhythms, there is also bits of funk, reggae'n'dub (heavily echo'd vocals now'n'again) and other influences, although turning their backs on the 60's touches from their past and subduing the cacophony and the shrieks to the point of bordering on (and sometimes crossing over into) boredom. "Swearin' to the Flag" and "Beggin' For Miracles", while slick, are a bit more compelling, but most songs are monotonous without any truly redeeming qualities.

I wish that I could like this more - I love the concept of the band and adore the early work, but this does not work for me.