Search - Suicide Commando :: Mindstrip

This cd is in my top 10 list. a must buy item!

adrianoebm | Japan | 10/10/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok guys Im brazilian so i don't want to spent my poor english here!
Everything i must say about this cd and Suicide Commando is that it rocks!
I like it since my first cd Critical Stage.
Thrust me!
A good choice!"

Standard power-noise

Nails in My Head | 07/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I had only heard one song off Mindstrip, "Jesus Wept", and it utterly blew me away. I had to get the rest of the work. So I bought Mindstrip. *sigh*.



"Jesus Wept" was a near perfect, minimalist stomp-fest. But then came "Hellraiser". As good musically, but the lyrics made me want to retch. Stupid, overdone crap. Impressive maybe 10 years ago, but Coil first, and then a plethera of others have already done it. I hoped "Body Count Proceed" would redeem it. Sort of, but the one "when I rolled him over, the back of his head was crushed" sample is overused ad nauseum. The song was about two minutes too long for this kind of work. "Raise Your God" made up for it a killer sample and breathtaking synths, but such beatiful work did not hold up. "Mindstripper" is downright boring. A single of that would get 1 star. How did it get to be the title track?? It's slow, the lyrics are repetitive and stupid, the synth is opressively high pitched, and the snare loop is wayyy too prominent for something so simple and repetitive.

"Run" just gets worse. It proves that the middle of the album is just filler. Usual suspects, boring sample repeated ad nauseum, lyrics a monkey with a typewriter could produce, and no movement whatsoever. Then to reenforce the filler concept, Van Roy creates a lackluster remix, almost killing the original "Comatose Delusion" for me. "Blood in Face" is like "Run", but with an even worse sample, if that's possible. Okay, so he mixes it up a bit, but still...

Now, "Love Breeds Suicide" pulls the album out of this self destuctive filler loop. Creepy ?bells? and excellent layering make this song really sing. And "Slaves" makes for a good finisher. But in retrospect, "Mindstripper" is definitely not worth 17 dollars. Take out the filler, John, make it a single, and have some vocal variation, please.



But kudos for the few really good songs on it. When he gets it right, he really gets it right."

And you thought NIN was "Pop-Industrial"

Andrew | 07/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Suicide Commando songs are basically made of three things.



1. Brutal drum loops made of sheer noize that sound awful

2. Scathing, harsh vox with terrible to tolerable lyrics

3. Probably the best melodic synthlines ever written



Put it on a dancefloor and watch the goths dance. This stuff is so much fun I cannot understand why they dont have a top-40 hit by now... the synth writing is so catchy it is impossible to get out of your head, and the beats may be violent but you can dance to them! This stuff is basically Front 242 on Steroids (Front 242 sounding like Kraftwerk on Steroids) and is absolutely delightful.



People say that Trent Reznor is pop-Industrial. I find very little of his work to be catchy. NIN is Skinny Puppy samples with guitar feedback over the top. Suicide Commando is actually catchy in the sense of music. Johan is obviously a man that knows how to write music that no one can really hate. If you have just started and are scared of this CD being 'too harsh,' dont be frightened. Its so catchy you cant help but love it. Even the brutal "Raise Your God" is catchy. This album is a staple of Slimelight's dance floor for a reason."