| CD REVIEW The Suicide Kings |
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Band : The Suicide Kings Southside of Hessen (Germany), early 2005: singer Rüdiger, guitarists Tober and Sascha, and bassist Matthias start rehearsing/ writing their first songs with the aid of several drummers. After a year the latter position in the band was secured by one Christian Gaum, the first demo tracks were recorded, and the first gigs were played in local venues. Somewhere in 2007 the demo tracks were compiled and sent out to labels, with as result that the band was signed to German imprint KB Records. So off to Saarbrücken's Death Tone Studios the quintet went, to record their January 2008 released debut album Devil May Care, off which the vinyl 7-inch Rebound/ All My Memories (the latter with Krawallbrüder's singer Pascal G. guesting)was culled. Stylistically, the music the band produced at that time was best described as Street Punk. In support of the release the band toured a lot, and nationwide gigs with Lolkaemie, Dritte Wahl and others followed. The band also did its first festival appearances at a.o. OFT, Hard East and Back On The Streets (shortly before Gaum left the band to be replaced by Markus), and at the end of the year TSK supported Krawallbrüder on a long weekend tour (which included a gig in Vienna). After a line-up change due to Matthias' departure and consequent replacement by Christian Steinki, more gigs followed, with festival appearances during Summer as well as a new tour in support of Krawallbrüder, leading TSK into some of Germany's bigger cities. Recordings for sophomore album Rule The Apocalypse were this time done at Fillitalli Studios with Witali Weber (Disbelief) as producer. Soundcheck: Metal had been fused into the band's music to make for an updated sound, which was qualitatively better thanx to a pure Metal mixing. According to our info, the December released album got positive reviews from both Punk and Metal magazines and webzines. However, with the release of the album co-founder Sascha decided to focus his attention to other things in life. A replacement for him was not looked for. A first gig in support of the album was done with Discipline, after which headliner shows followed and again Summer festival appearances. Towards the end of the year the band retreated yet again into Fillitalli Studios, with this new album as a result. Upon giving the album several listening sessions, I kinda wonder what all the whoo-hah about this band in the past may have been about. Must be that Sascha brought in some great guitar play, because what I hear here is hardly motivating. The band moves through 10 tracks like a leopard tank on almost constant speed with nothing much happening to make things interesting. Major hick-up is the band's singer, but the instrumentalists could bring in some variety as well! End evaluation: here's a pretty boring album! The most interesting passages on the album, in fact, are the samples (in the intro of album opening track “2nd Class Citizen Boys”, the intro of “Crucify The Saints”, and the shotgun cock-and-discharge in the opening of “Killing Glance” , plus the wacky music thing at the ending of the album closing title track – actually one of the better tracks on the disc). One positive thing about the album: it's all over in less than half an hour. Still, I suppose fans of the band (I mean, where did all those positive reviews in the past come from, and how else could the band have gotten such nice gigging opportunities?) will love this anyhow, and they're welcome to it. In fact, you're absolutely free to have a completely different opinion about this band, and to find out how yoù feel about TSK music, just check the material (title track of the new album plus 4 off Rule The Apocalypse – oh wait, I just got through listening a couple of those tracks, and the twin guitar play indeed improves the overall quality of this band, sómewhat –and 3 more off the debut) at (www.) myspace.com/thesuicidekingspunk. Oh wait, there's an additional track off the new album at the Media/ Music section of the band's own (www.) thesuicidekings.de! 75/100 Tony. |