American thrash metal pioneers Suicidal Tendencies don’t tend to head to the UK too often, so when it was announced that they’d be playing a show at one of London’s most popular, more intimate venues The Electric Ballroom, it was an event Rocksins didn’t want to miss. James went along for us to survey a night of thrash metal (both old and new) for us…
Many bands would be intimidated by a sparse crowd and a sea of fans clearly only here for tonight’s headliners. Not Evile (9) who blast their way through an all too short five-song set that for the most part focusses on their fastest material. Tonight proves that Evile have moved far beyond half hour support slots with half an hour simply nowhere near enough time to showcase even a fraction of the rich back catalogue Evile have developed over the last six years and four albums.
Evile Setlist:
We Who Are About To Die
Underworld
Head of the Demon
Thrasher
Enter the Grave
Tonight’s headliners Suicidal Tendencies(6) could best be described as ‘frustrating’. A slow start due to poor sound farther compounded by an insistence on introducing every single song with either a two-minute intro jam or a long speech from frontman Mike Muir robbing the performance of anything resembling momentum. This is all the more annoying when witnessing the brilliance of when they actually get around to playing songs – ‘War Inside My Head’ providing an all too brief highlight around a quarter of the way through the set. Suicidal aren’t bad musically – they just never quite get going.
Suicidal Tendencies Setlist:
You Can’t Bring Me Down
Smash It!
Freedumb
War Inside My Head
Subliminal
I Saw Your Mommy
Who’s Afraid?
Send Me Your Money
We Are Family
Possessed to Skate
Cyco Vision
How Will I Laugh Tomorrow
Pledge Your Allegiance
