Review by Ben for Suicidal Tendencies - Lights Camera Revolution (1990)

It's always surprising to hear just how much Suicidal Tendencies rock out when everything comes together. It's easy to put them in the punk / crossover box and then suddenly, there's this chunky riff and lead work to die for that reminds me that in their prime, these guys knew exactly how to write perfectly good thrash metal. Unfortunately, there are always parts of their albums that just don't sit too well with me and stop me from loving any of their releases from start to finish.

Lights Camera Revolution is a perfect example of the above. You Can't Bring Me Down, Lost Again and Alone start things off in fine style and I'm totally into it. But then the silliness starts with tracks like Lovely and Send Me Your Money and it just loses something for me. I'm sure there are a bunch of crossover fans out there that dig both sides of the band, but I guess I'm just not one of them. But if I took the heavier tracks off How Will I Laugh Tomorrow and Lights Camera Revolution, I reckon I'd have one kickass album. Mike Muir's distinctive vocals are a little unusual (they're wussy at times), but he's got great range and a bunch of talent to go. Rocky George pumps out great riffs and leads throughout and Robert Trujillo shows why he'd eventually be handpicked for Metallica on bass.

All up I'd say this is probably my favourite Suicidal Tendencies album, yet I still can't rate it too highly. At times it's fantastic, but it's just not consistent enough to reach higher grades from this thrash head.