It took Johan van Roy almost 5 years to release a new album with his electro-industrial project Suicide Commando. There’s not that much new on it, but more about that later. Suicide Commando, this name has been haunting the playlists of DJs for what feels like an eternity and is a welcome guest on all stages of the world. And with it comes a certain expectation on the part of the listeners. If it says Suicide Commando on it, it should also say Suicide Commando on it.
The opener “Kill All Humanity” starts with very dark synths and the characteristic distorted vocals that we have known for years. Track two, surprise surprise, we’ve known it for a bit longer. “I’d Die For You (v2.0)”, an update of the 2018 song that appeared on Death Will Find You back in the day. This doesn’t necessarily make the song bad, but it is a bit surprising. The new version is definitely fun, though.
The title track “Goddestruktor” reminds me a lot of Front 242, which suits the song and the whole album very well. “Jesus Freak” on the other hand is pure SC! Powerful bass lines and powerful drums meet a certain simplicity (at least that’s how it sounds). That’s exactly how it has to sound. There are a few more tracks of this kind to be heard. “Destroyer Of Worlds”, with this title anything but an EBM/Industrial sound bomb would be a cheat. “Bang Bang Bang”, already known as a single, goes in a similar direction.
But it also works differently. “Land Of Roses” is not exactly the song you would expect from Suicide Commando. A very relaxed synthpop number with female guest vocals. You feel a bit reminded of Blutengel. Detached from all the comparisons, this is a coherent number that exudes its very own magic. I also think of an unexpected comparison to the short “Sin”. It almost sounds like an 80s Depeche Mode instrumental number in a modern guise. The song closes with “Bunkerb!tch”, which was already released as a single two years ago, in a censored version. But that doesn’t stop the song from exploding ecstatically, especially at the end, and it hasn’t lost any of its power and dynamics.
What do you do with an album like this? There is little that is innovative or spectacularly new. I can’t really confirm that this is the hardest SC album of all time, as announced by the label. 3 of 11 songs are re-releases of already known songs. Is the album entertaining? Absolutely! In this respect, what I mentioned at the beginning is probably true again: If it says Suicide Commando on it, it should also say Suicide Commando on it. Johan van Roy fulfils this aspect perfectly with his album “Goddestruktor”. Every song is to the point and shows that Johan still masters his craft. Let the young bands take care of the further development. Somehow an intricate, highly complex, innovative SC album would have been strange. It’s like a favourite dish. Always delicious, even if it’s always grandma’s recipe.
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