Artist: Suicide Machines
Album: War Profiteering is Killing us All
Label: Side One Dummy
Tracks: 14
Running Time: 30 and a bit minutes




It’s been a while between drinks for the mainstream and a purely political rock band. Think back to Rage Against The Machine who rarely stopped talking about injustice in their homeland or anywhere for that matter. Rage were something of a bomb up a generation recovering from Kurt Cobain’s apathy. While System of a Down occasionally deliver diatribe on a par they’re often riffing on the effects of drugs as much as anything else.

Enter veteran punk outfit Suicide Machines. Formed in 1991 they could never be accused of making smoothly produced, easily digestible music. The Detroit quartet mix raw punk and anthemic choruses with occasional Rancid inspired ska flavours but every song on War Profiteering… is shrouded by their urgent and radical political message.

Beyond encouraging a second American civil war and painting himself as a genuine American patriot, singer and lyricist Jason Navarro deals in a fast paced spit and growl with nuclear energy, the US military, apathetic voters, the music industry and generally nasty capitalist men in suits all in the same kill the lot of ‘em fashion.