ST13
Suicidal Tendencies, 13 – Suicidal Tendencies is back in 2013, a year that they really couldn’t resist putting out an album, given lead singer Mike Muir’s typical 13 logo shirts; oh yeah – it’s also been 13 years since their last album of new songs (although in 2010 they did put out re-recordings of their second album, and songs from the unreleased No Mercy second album). By the way, the album also has 13 songs (it would have had less, but they added two or three filler tracks to hit that magic number).
The new album is very busy, with tons of virtuoso string bending, drum pounding, bass flailing, and a kinda-sorta Rocky George-style shredding over a rockin’ base track. In the punishing first song “Shake It Out”, the lyric “can someone please get me a Diet Pepsi” is a hilarious send-up to the first song of the first album, “Institutionalised” with its famous “All I wanted was a Pepsi – and she wouldn’t give it to me!!” line, updated to modern times when each member of the band is plus-sized (sadly, the band has rarely put out a song to match the sheer fury and genius “Institutionalised”, and they certainly don’t on this album). “Smash It” is just that, and it’s a great opener, while “This Ain’t No Celebration” is good rockin’ tunage with a good riff. “God Only Knows Who I Am” is a cool mellow tune with great melodies and a cool swampy vibe. “Make Your Stand” is a silly punk rocker that sort of smashes on and on. “Who’s Afraid?” is a superior ST song – “who’s afraid to get psycho?!?!” “Show Some Love…Tear It Down” is a so-so punker, it’s okay. “Cyco Style” is another so-so punker, but with good riffs. “Slam City” is definitely one of the better songs on the album, with very cool crunchiness throughout and great songwriting. “Till My Last Breath” is so-so rockin’ punk. “Living The Fight” is a great rocker that just smashes on and on. “Life (Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It)” is a pretty cool tune, it rocks on and on as well. Great shredding!! “This World” is a big song!!