Suicidal Tendencies - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988)^{Release ID: 3531}

This album caught me by surprise. I found just about nothing of interest on the self-titled release that everyone obsesses about. I guess I'm just not interested in punkish hardcore or skater music and so it was a sound I just couldn't relate to. So, I turned to How Will I Laugh Tomorrow expecting to hate it. How wrong I was!

This album is a thrash metal album! And I mean real thrash metal! Of course, some of the former Suicidal Tendencies feeling is still hanging around, but the riffs and song structures are pure thrashing gold at times. Most of all though, these songs are extremely memorable and entertaining. There are a few songs I still struggle with a bit, but Trip at the Brain, Hearing Voices, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow, Surf and Slam and If I Don't Wake Up are damn great. I'm glad I got past my ST prejudice and gave this album a shot. I better check out some of their others now.

1988’s “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” album represents my first experience with Venice Beach crossover thrash legends Suicidal Tendencies who initially came to my attention through the classic opening track “Trip At The Brain” which I heard on a late-night underground metal program some time in 1989. I’d certainly seen their name around while associating with a group of skaters from the year above me at high school but hadn’t taken the time to explore them until that moment. This admittedly very impressive track would prove to be the catalyst for further exploration though with Ben & I would soon picking up “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” on cassette. It’s a release that I've held vague but generally fond memories of over the years yet I can’t say that I remembered too many of the specifics going into this revisit as I haven’t returned to it in decades. I’ve recently found myself asking why that is as I certainly remember a lot more of its 1990 follow-up “Lights Camera Revolution”, an album that I regard as being the pinnacle of the crossover thrash movement. Well... we’re about to get some greater transparency on that so let’s dive right in.

I don’t have much time for Suicidal Tendencies’ 1987 sophomore album “Join The Army”. It was more of a transitional record than a genuine crossover record with the rhythm guitar tone still remaining firmly in punk territory. I really struggled with Mike Muir’s pitchy & generally inadequate vocal performance too which made the album a bit of a chore to listen to if I'm being honest. The introduction of new lead guitarist Rocky George was the source of great promise though as he brought with him a metal focus & an instrumental competence that gave Suicidal a noticeable lift in potential. “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” may only have landed a year later but the differences in approach between the two albums become apparent very quickly after pressing play. The production job is much thicker, more cohesive & generally much more focused on a metal sound rather than a hardcore one. Also, you’ll struggle to identify much in the way of hardcore on the first four tracks which see Suicidal now sitting firmly in a metal space. Hints at hardcore will eventually appear once you reach the middle of the tracklisting & there are a few legitimate crossover thrash tracks included (“The Miracle”, “The Feeling’s Back” & CD bonus track “Suicyco Mania”) but I think it’s fair to say that crossover is more of a secondary component than the primary one as Suicidal simply feel more like a genuine metal band at this point. The classic heavy metal influence that was evident on “Join The Army” is once again clearly visible here with songs like “Pledge Your Allegiance”, the title track & “One Too Many Times” sitting very much in that space while “Surf & Slam” & “Sorry?!” see the band hit on a sound that could only be described as speed metal in my opinion. It’s (perhaps unsurprisingly) the undiluted thrash metal of tracks like “Trip At The Brain” & “If I Don’t Wake Up” that have the most impact on me though.

Rocky George’s lead guitar work is a definite highlight as he builds on the concepts he’d started on “Join The Army” & takes them to another level with his tendency to contribute a continuous layer of shredding lead work over the course of entire songs becoming somewhat of a trademark at this point. His chops would improve further on “Lights Camera Revolution” but he was already very capable & pulls it all off with relative ease. Muir’s vocals are another story altogether though & I’d have to suggest that my nostalgic memories of the album hadn’t prepared me for the fact that Muir simply can’t sing. The instrumentation is generally very consistent across the entire tracklisting but it's Muir’s contribution that either makes or breaks each song & unfortunately I’d have to suggest that there are more misses than hits on this occasion. He absolutely destroys songs like “Hearing Voices” & “Sorry?!”, making potentially quite fun (if fairly generic) thrash & speed metal songs into cringe-worthy disappointments that fail to live up to their potential due to some clumsy execution & some very lazy chorus hooks. The consistent use of hardcore-style gang vocals doesn’t help all that much either it has to be said.

It's funny that (other than the obvious highlight in opener “Trip At The Brain”) not a lot of this material sounded very familiar at all so I’ve had to question whether I really did rate this album all that highly back in the day. I tend to have a very strong memory for music so, based on this experience, I'd have to suggest that I may not have spent as much of my formative years with “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can’t Even Smile Today” as I thought I did. It’s been good to finally get some clarity on its qualities now though & I’ve subsequently realigned my position on the album. It's a very inconsistent release that serves mainly transitional purposes as the first genuine thrash record Suicidal released on their journey towards their career-defining follow-up album. If you go completely nuts for bands like D.R.I., Municipal Waste & Dr. Living Dead then you’ll definitely want to give it a few spins though, if only as a point of historical reference.