Why is The Suicide Machines’ Revolution Spring on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Upbeat ska and punk, expertly mixed with great hooks and strong musicianship overall.
What does The Suicide Machines’ Revolution Spring mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
The Suicide Machines are in that tiny pantheon of bands for me where it’s extremely rare where I flat out won’t like any of their songs (let alone albums). Some won’t be particularly exciting or interesting, sure, but there’s a baseline sound that they have that I enjoy. And much of their rather prodigious output I dig quite a lot.
I’m a huge fan of upbeat ska and punk, especially when expertly mixed with great hooks and strong musicianship overall. And that’s what The Suicide Machines consistently deliver while at the same time mixing up the formula enough – with great vocals and harmonies, musical dynamics, and enough pop sensibilities – to keep most of their songs rather accessible.
Overall, though, it’s the energy in their music that makes The Suicide Machines’ music infectious. And at 16 songs and just under 35 minutes, Revolution Spring brings it quickly.
“Empty Time” starts out with anthemic punk energy before shifting into a ska punk section with outstanding harmonies and change up in musical dynamics that is uniquely Suicide Machines.
If I heard the first 10 seconds of “To Play Caesar (Is to Be Stabbed to Death)” out of context, I would absolutely think it was a Rancid song. Which is never a bad thing, in my book. But then the song pivots into trademark TSM territory, with a sing-songy and highly catchy vocals over ska punk rhythms.
Fun video, too, and I should point out that I get the sense that the band emphasizes an atmosphere at live shows where moshing and having a wild time is great as is, importantly, being respectful and ensuring everyone has a good experience. I’m fortunate enough to have seen The Suicide Machines live once, as an aside, though it was at an outdoor festival show in New York City. I’ll talk about that more in a future TSM album entry.
“Awkward Always” leans into the band’s ska and pop sensibilities, while still maintaining a rock solid underbelly of punk rock energy. Which is to say it’s upbeat, fun*, and catchy as hell, as so many TSM songs tend to be.
* Slight caveat on “fun” in that a number of TSM albums take on strong anti-war and political posturing, so the messaging can be quite serious but the sound of the band itself is nearly always some combination of fun, exciting, or compelling.
This album also sounds like
Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Flatliners, Catch 22 are all solid contemporaries with The Suicide Machines. Rancid is a good analog with this album as both bands have been around for a long, long time, are still relevant, and both are comfortable with mixing ska (and, at times, other musical stylings) into a base punk template.
The Suicide Machines’ Revolution Spring on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
Some stats & info about The Suicide Machines – Revolution Spring
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Ska, Punk, Punk Rock, Ska Punk, Punk Pop, Rock, Rock Music, Alternative Rock, Third Wave Ska Revival, Detroit Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – not ranked!
- When was Revolution Spring released? 2020
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #925 out of 1,000