Almost a decade into their turbulent and trouble-filled career, Suicidal Tendencies released Lights, Camera, Revolution. A band on the perimeter of the thrash metal scene (and purveyors, perhaps, of what would much later evolve into metalcore), it was a belligerent, uncompromising album, a middle finger to both critics and society that sat somewhere between the rock’n’roll excess of Guns N’Roses and the driving riffs of Metallica.
Suicidal Tendencies never achieved the mega success of those bands (hardly surprising, given they were banned from playing in their native LA until the early 90s), but their rebellious antagonism would later manifest itself in the popular political invectives of bands such as Rage Against The Machine; as is often the way, their influence outweighed their commercial achievements.
At the same time as recording Lights…, the band decided to re-record their debut eponymous album. Originally reissued in 1993 as Still Cyco… and included here on the second disc, it’s a much more brash and brazen record, but its destructive energy is just as powerful 15 years later – and 25 after its original release. Suicidal Tendencies told it like it was. These albums are a testament to their lasting, uncompromising passion.
