Fifteen years after their last album, when I was a sophomore in college, the Suicide Machines have come roaring back. After a breakup, new bands getting started, a reunion with a new guitarist, and a lot of touring, Jay Navarro and company have come back with sixteen tracks in thirty-two minutes. Sounds like a typical Machines record, doesn\u2019t it? Kicking off with the melodic \u201cBully In Blue,\u201d the band comes blasting out of the speakers offering some good old punk with political themes to kick the youngsters in the teeth a bit.<\/p>\n
The great \u201cAwkward Always\u201d sounds like the great melodic Machines of the past with some great vocals and really breezy, bouncy guitar work. Getting right to the heart of their surroundings, \u201cFlint Hostage Crisis\u201d and \u201cDetroit Is The New Miami\u201d are two of the strongest tracks, full of piss and vengeance; they\u2019re enough to wake you up and get you thinking about the world outside of your window.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmpty Time\u201d is one of the longer tracks here but it works so well as it allows the entire band to shine. Navarro gets a chance to stretch himself vocally on \u201cEternal Contrarian,\u201d which showcases why I still feel he\u2019s one of the most underrated punk vocalists of my lifetime. \u201cBlack Tar Halo\u201d is another quick punk blast that really shakes the average listener out of their regular world and into a heavier world they may not be prepared for. <\/p>\n
\u201cSimple\u201d is a great song about not taking life for granted, and in this time of being quarantined and isolated, it\u2019s a great track to hear. Remember: everything will be fine! For the epic finale, \u201cCheers To Ya,\u201d the band brings back the horns and gives the listener a grand send-off of power and excellence. <\/p>\n
I hope there\u2019s a new generation of fans who are just discovering this band. This disc is a great primer for newbies and to reinforce what longtime fans have known for a long-ass time: the Machines are one of the best \u201890s punk bands to ever do this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":34029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9597],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-45858","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-suicide-machines","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45858"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}