No Mercy Fool! / The Suicidal Family

To the many, this track listing will seem to offer little to commend it, consisting largely of familiar tracks from the classic ST 'Join the Army' album, and Muir/Clark spin off band 'No Mercy', both from back in the mid-80's.If you think along those lines, you are mistaken. Those who have kept the faith over the years will know that Muir has put together the strongest ST line up since leaving Epic Records, and, having revisited their skate-punk roots for a brief false dawn in the early 90's, has returned invigorated, inspired, and not afraid to embrace the sound that brought them close to perfection with the peerless 'Lights Camera Revolution'.Earlier this year, they released a 'sampler' CD with a mix of ST, Cyco Miko, IG and No Mercy tracks. It was awesome, but it was hard to get hold of. The highlight of that disc was a new ST track 'Come Alive', a true classic ST anthem, now more widely available through its inclusion on this album, making it worth the price alone.Also on that sampler though, was a restructured and dare I say it, vastly improved, '2 wrongs dont make a right', taken from the session that makes up the main body of this album. Essentialy, this does for 'JTA' what 'Still Cyco after all these years' did for their eponymous debut album, but trust me, it works so much better with the songs that marked their evolution away from pure punk.So, if you are curious to hear if Cyco Miko has still got it (believe me he does), if you used to be down ST but thought they were nothing but a fond memory, or if you are part of a newer generation and want to be amazed at just how much of his entire career Fred Durst stole wholesale from a true O.G., then its time to pledge your allegiance, click purchase, and take a ride on the cyco side of the brain.

Alright, this album is primarily re-recorded versions of songs from Suicidals Join the Army album. However, a number of these songs have already been re-recorded and released on previous Suicidal albums. For example Possessed to Skate was re-recorded and released on the Prime Cuts album (Prime Cuts version being the better of the two if you ask me). Likewise with the song Join the Army.The other 2 songs that have previously been re-recorded and sound better are `We're F'n Evil' and `Something Inside Me', these are both on the Friends and Family 2 album. Personal favourites on this album are 'Come Alive' and 'Born to be Cyco'. Having said all of the above this new album is a great volume. I'm a major fan of these guys it makes you want to reach for all the old releases (b-sides included) and listen them back to back. It makes you realise what a great band Suicidal were and still are!!!

Great Album