SUICIDE COMMANDO FACE OF DEATH (LTD ED) DOUBLE EP DEPENDENT RELEASE: MAY 25, 2003 REVIEW: JUNE 24, 2003

Johan Johan Johan, you've finally managed to do something I never imagined you could do to me: you've bored me. "Face of Death" is the first single to be lifted from the forthcoming album "Axis of Evil" and it sounds like every goddamned Suicide Commando song you've ever heard. There is nothing new save for the creepy pop influence which is slyly inserted into this track. Now maybe I'm being cruel here but the album version of this song is utterly forgettable. Now, some of the remixes fare better. Except for Implant's. It sucks, plain and simple. Floor fodder in its most disposable form.
The bonus track on the first disc "Deliver Us from Evil" is fairly passable but I don't find it to be quite as impressive as say, "Kevorkian" from the "Comatose Delusion" single. Disc two is the reason to buy this edition of the single, however, as the remixes on it are very well executed indeed. Johan van Roy streamlines the title track and gives it a much more defined sound. It is what should have been on the album. Truly unfortunate. FSK 18 turn "Face of Death" into an intricate exercise in melody and harmony! A monumental accomplishment. The hastily-added additional song, a demo version of the album track "Sterbehilfe" is quite colourful for Mr van Roy to have come up with. Perhaps the album will hold some suprises but did we really need another version of "Love Breeds Suicide" for chrissake?

PETER MARKS