3 out of 5

Label: Bad Time Records

Produced by: Engineer [Engineered By] – Steve Presti (tracks: A1 to A4), Miho Miura, Taizo Hayama (tracks: B1 to B5)

Classic ska-punkers and a new school crew, sharing a release.

The Suicide Machines arrive in full-form, still in total revitalization mode after the previous year’s Revolution Spring. Not that the crew members necessarily went anywhere, active in other projects, but they also came back mostly without missing a step, save for – my criticism of that comeback album – perhaps lacking a reason for coming back at all, with the disc sounding like plug and play machines, and not necessarily anything new. That’s somewhat corrected here! Opener Accelerate the Decline may suggest otherwise, as it comes across as a Spring extra, moving through hardcore ska with excessive bravado to maybe prove the band’s still got it. However, the three songs after that show the band willing to slow things down and spread out, letting different elements feel more organic to the track, and sure, maybe sounding a bit more chilled out overall, but still grounded in their pissed-off rhetoric. (Which is largely the same as always, bit, again, with a dash more awareness that time has actually passed.)

Coquettish are a good counterpoint to all of this, doing a quick and sloppy and scrappy punk thing, with some great harmonies and speedy-as-heck hooks. The group does truly sound like a mix between Destruction and Battle Hymns-era Suicide Machines, but they do the whole thing a lot more recklessly, which is a good sound. That said, they maybe take one note that they shouldn’t: the ska bits. It’s really unnecessary to Coquettish’s sound, and tends to drag them away from what makes them stand out. The lyric sheet for Coquettish is probably good if you’re younger – lots of swears and relationship angst – but limited otherwise, if maybe another good youth / elder reflection of SM’s writing.