CD, Dependent Recods, 2003
www.suicidecommando.be
Considering all the hype around the latest release by this Belgian harsh-electro act, generated in no small part by the “Face of Death” singles, I was expecting a lot from the full-length “Axis of Evil”. However, it fell rather short of the expectations generated (to say the least).
“Axis of Evil” is standard ‘harsh-electro’, presenting all the characteristics and clichés associated with a genre that was de facto originated by Suicide Commando (and a couple of others): the intensive and dance-friendly beats, simple melodic work, omnipresent movie and news-cast samples and all the cheap and pointless ‘rage’.
From a purely instrumental point of view, “Axis of Evil” is quite acceptable. The music itself is energetic and strong-paced, packing some punch. Nearly every track in “Axis of Evil” is club-friendly and dance-floor oriented with most tracks having the potential to be floor-fillers. Even in a genre that begins to sound quite stagnated as harsh-electro, Suicide Commando still stands out of the crowd even if their sound is becoming predictable.
Unfortunately, “Axis of Evil” becomes really ugly when one considers the lyrics (and it doesn’t take much effort to do so). I’m totally in favour of expressing feelings through writing and applying it to song but, as in most Suicide Commando albums, the lyrics in “Axis of Evil” seem rather pointless and immature, with all the vengeful rage and angst contained in then. Not at all unlike “upper-middle class teenage angst/rage” against the injustices of a grim and evil world in which you are top of the heap. At best, the whole thing sounds extremely hypocritical.
This is where the problem with Suicide Commando lies: musically it is solid and rather well-produced but the lyrical content is lousy to say the least. If the vocal/lyrical content could be removed, the result could be a consistent, professional piece of work in the harsh-electro dance-music genre.
[4/10]
— Miguel de Sousa