5 out of 5

Label: Hollywood

Producer: Julian Raymond

…And then after the success of ‘Destruction,’ which coincided perfectly with the ska/punk surge, Suicide Machines did the not cool thing to do and stripped off the clutter and went almost straight ahead punk/hardcore.  The ska elements are there but not really in the same fashion as ‘Destruction,’ which used the typical ska off-beat for most of the tracks to make it a skater punk thing you could bob your head to.  ‘Battle Hymns,’ with its total propaganda-esque look, sounds exactly as its album title would suggest – 2 minute or less tracks raging against any and everything.  Which isn’t so far, lyrically, from the previous album, sure, but knock the teenage drama to the side in favor of a more political/social stance.  While the group obviously retained enough of an audience to stick with Hollywood Records, I don’t think the release was exactly what casual fans were seeking, which is, admittedly, part of what made it so appealing to me at the time of release.  It was by and far the heaviest, angriest thing I had heard.  Sure, yelly stuff like Rage Against the Machine was going on, but that was a different style of music, and cluttered with enough ‘fuck yous’ to slot it in with the douche crowd.  ‘Hymns’ bottled de la Roche’s very specific political aim and shook it up in a tiny test tube with punk sneer ’til it bubbled over.  The Machines have never been lyrical geniuses and there’s nothing to surprise you here – ‘Hating Hate,’ ‘DDT,’ ‘What You Say’ and almost every track on the disc are right from the anarchy activist playbook – but SM have also never been lyrical dunderheads, balancing the typical with enough word-smithery to make it not just rhymes and to feel thought out.  So I can put this disc on today and still get just as amped and pissed listening to ‘High Society’ as I did in high school when it felt more relevant.

Bringing it all to life is the flexible Julian Raymond, who worked with the band during their Hollywood years and supported, sonically, the flip from ska to punk to pop by just laying down a clean, live sound.  I have to assume that it helps that the band can bring it live, but as a billion producers and albums can attest, just making something sound energized after you mic it can be a challenge.  ‘Battle’ is given a terrifying distortion, the drums rush in without overwhelming other elements, and the non-distorted guitar bits and the bass all have this very raw sound which matches the vibe.

This is one of the few punk albums I’ve experienced that keeps it going for 20+ tracks without, truly, any unidentifiable songs, or becoming overwhelming by album’s end.  It never really slows, but the band knows to toss a couple of poppier tracks in the mix – like the awesomely fun ‘Face Another Day,’ or ‘Numbers’ – so your ears stay attentive and ringing at a comfortable level.