Customer Reviews

Art of Rebellion

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In 1991, when the world was held in the grip of Whitney Houston, Michael Bolton musical haze, Tori Amos, Nirvana, and the Seattle Grunge scene broke on the charts and unseated the mellow gods. In the wake of that wave, while all record companies were looking to sign the "Next Nirvana," Suicidal Tendencies, long darlings of the skater set, masters of rage and anger, quietly released this most mature and stunning album. Had music's attention not been focused elsewhere, it would hold a much higher place in the public eye, I'm sure.

Focusing heavily upon a twin theme of depression and paranoia, the work moves with relentless grace through a series of incredibly orchestrated, well thought songs. It starts out angry and fast, with "Can't Stop" and "Accept My Sacrifice." Then in a decidedly un-Tendencies way, moves into the slower, sitting on the edge of sanity styled, "I Wasn't Meant to Feel This/Asleep at the Wheel," and gleefully topples over the edge into "Got to Kill Captain Stupid," and "Hate You Better." There simply isn't a bad track on this one.

The Tendencies show a lot of musical maturity as well, at this time, they were working on a number of side projects (as the band began to splinter,) like their Ska/Chilli Pepper inspired alter ego, "The Infectious Grooves." They bring the knowledge gleaned from these musical diversions to bear on this album. Gone are the blindingly fast, quantity over quality speed chords of the early albums, and Muir's voice has graduated from the near incoherent shouting of "institutionalized," to a smooth honey glaze that slides through the songs like an undertow, allowing the intellegent lyrics and musical turns to do the ripping.

At times almost unintrusive, but capable of crushing intensity, a worthy addition to any collection that include both Metalica and Tool.

This album is more like "Lights" than "How Will I Laugh" in it's song writing style but done way better. The tunes are good, not dry like "Lights" and the album feels well-produced. You'll find the songs high in content and quality but not that fast or thrashy. This is NOTHING like early S.T.'s but it is a good album nonetheless. I regard this as Suicidal's last good album. Trust me, after this, it's completely downhill in the worst way.

I am 36 and have been listening to hard rock/metal since I was only nine. I own more than 1,500 hard rock/metal CDs. I am not bragging here, but rather trying to put things into perspective when talking about this album.

This whole album is incredible. It's easily ST's best, but you got to let it grow on you for a while. This CD contains ST's best song ever, and one of my top ten songs of all time: "Asleep at the Wheel". I probably have listened to that song more than 1,000,000 times since this CD came out, and I still close my eyes and sing it out loud EVERY SINGLE TIME!!! It's a very original song, impossible to describe with words. It's magical, it's mesmerizing (By the way, you may skip the first two minutes of the song since they are very forgettable and have actually a different name - "I Wasn't Meant to Feel This").

Another great song is "Monopoly of Sorrow", especially after the 3:37 mark. This has to be one of the best song endings that I have ever herad. That combination of fast pace acoustic and electric guitars is simply top notch.

Anyway, get this CD and let it grow on you. You will not regret it.

When I bought this album I didnt get what I thought I was getting into. For awhile I was highly dissappointed listening to it, and to be honest I didnt like it to much. I gave 'The Art of Rebellion' some time though, and it grew on me. The lyrics can be a bit corny and annoying some of the time though, and that brings it down a half point - from a perfect five to a 4.5. Thats still really great, and perfect albums that truly warrent five stars are really far in between for me though. For anyone who wants an album they can listen to years for now (unlike those whiny emo bands who will be gone after the fad wears off), then pick up this album. You cant stop the run away emotions in me, you know... Never mind. Buy the album and you will know what I'm talking about.

As my title says, this was the first Suicidal Tendencies album I got. I expected it to sound punky, as everyone says they're so good a punk band. I was surprised, and NOT the bad kind! This album is straight forward metal. The first two albums had a punk influence, but HCILTWICEST and everything afterwards was a metal album. This is one of the best albums of the 90's. Mike Muir's vocals are top-notch here. Rob Trujillo's bass is great, the guitars from Mike Clark and the other guitarist (forgot his name...sorry!) are great, as are the drums. The album starts out with "Cant' Stop". NO, not the Red Hot Chilli Peppers song! It's one of the longer songs, but it's a great start to this great album. The next songs, "Accept My Sacrifice" and "Nobody Hears", are my favorite songs on this album. I like all the songs on this album, but the above three are my favorites. Recommended if you like metal, speed metal, and Suicidal Tendencies.
Ratings:
1. Can't Stop 5/5
2. Accept My Sacrifice 5/5
3. Nobody Hears 5/5 (My favorite song!)
4. Tap into the Power 5/5
5. Monopoly on Sorrow 5/5
6. We Call This Mutha Revenge 5/5
7. I Wasn't Meant to Feel This/Asleep at the Wheel 5/5
8. Gotta Kill Captain Stupid 5/5
9. I'll Hate You Better 4/5
10. Which Way to Free 5/5
11. It's Going Down 4/5
12. Where's the Truth 5/5

PS, new Suicidal Tendencies album later this year!

lo and behold, these guys can bring it. rather than just put out the chops on the guitar that any 2 year old can do, this is an album with some premeir muscicianship. The vocals are good, the guitars are great and the baselines and drums thump. Though i like some of their earlier work ('how can i laugh tommorow...' and 'waking the dead' come to mind), i always found these guys to be somewhat amateur and i dont care what the die hards say. Well, they've gone pro now. Thats not to say they've sold out people,it simply means they've finally decided to stop ripping off people with albums with 1 or 2 good songs and put together a solid full album effort here. Buy this album and see what ST can do when they get serious.

I have been into these guys for many years, but particularly like all the albums done with lead guitarist Rocky George. He is an amazing guitarist and never gets talked about in any magazines. I assume nobody will acknowledge him because of the name of the band. I really am not much into metal except Mega Death and Suicidal. Many Suicidal albums do not have Rocky on them and are not near as good. Check out "lights camera revolution", "Suicide For Life" and "How can I laugh tomorrow if I cant even smile today" for more excellent metal by suicidal. All these albums are full of great musicianship including lyrics, bass and drum beats and amazing guitar work. If you like the older and newer more punk suicidal you may not like the complexity of these albums and should focus on pre 90 and after 2000 albums.

The best way to describe this album is to say that it is the most radio worthy. This is the most mellow ST album and the most beautiful. I would say that Mike's voice shines best here and the song writing is grade 'A' all the way. "Gotta Kill Captain Stupid" is yet another movement toward their reoccurring crusade to abolish...stupidity, and "Monopoly on Sorrow" is purrrrrfect. Buy This, You won't be sorry.

This is some of ST's best work. These are the kind of lyrics that grab hold and don't let go which makes ST an instant favorite among those of us who are true punk and metal fans. There is no glamor, there are no famous rappers making a guest appearence, it's just pure emotion. Sucidal is one of the only bands that has the balls to completly wear their heart on their sleve, and they have for almost 20 years. To the person from the uk who said ST wasn't anything original, you must not have been around in the early 80's when ST revoultionized not only punk music but the entire punk/metal scene.

The Art of Rebellion is one their most beautiful albums, though all of them are best in some way. The lyrics are great, the shouts that express the hopelesness, can be best heard in "Can't Stop". Well, it's their "deepest" album, the depression is so powerful, you just remember your sad memories you wanted to forget or present realities you can't forget. If you want to cry, if you want to shout, if you want to just sit and look straight to the wall for hours and hours, buy this album. If you are not a loser, well, you won't understand it anyway.