The latest thing to come speeding out of STHQ faster than a cyco speech from Mike Muir is 'No Mercy Fool! / The Suicidal Family', a hard-nosed collection of musical brutality and lyrical philosophy that sees the modern day line up of Suicidal, still featuring time tested band mates Mike Muir and Mike Clark, returning to their hardcore roots for a re-stamping over some old familiar ground as well as some lesser known territories. In the same vein as 'Still Cyco After All These Years', 'No Mercy Fool............' is a collection of old songs re-recorded with modern twists. Though remaining faithful to the originals the 2010 line up have cut a selection of songs bristling with frenzied energy and enthusiasm.

In fact this fourteen track album is split straight down the middle. Where as the first seven tunes featured come solely from Suicidal's '87 masterpiece 'Join The Army', the second half, side two if you will, is a collection of reruns through the lesser known workings of No Mercy's 'Widespread Bloodshed' LP, also from '87. No Mercy sported both Mike Muir and Mike Clark in their ranks and when the band split Muir imported Clark into the classic ST line-up that cut the 'How Will I Laugh Tomorrow.....' album.  'Something Inside Me', We're F'n Evil', 'I'm Your Nightmare' and 'Widespread Bloodshed...Love Runs Red', all easily passable as Suicidal originals, offered to the faithful ST friends and family that may not have been aware of these songs first time around the hard rock block. The other No Mercy tracks here, namely 'Come Alive', 'Crazy But Proud' and 'No Mercy Fool!' were all previously available in their new forms on the 'Year Of The Cyco' album.

If hardcore is a war zone then this is the sound of a perfectly orchestrated battlefield and the 'Join The Army' tracks fire off a burning, bludgeoning assault of no nonsense, in your face aggression and physicality delivered just the way modern sounding powerful music should be - with a heart stopping punch to the chest. The fact that these guys are such old skool pros shines though without hindrance from any outside forces. Unrestrained by fashion trends and musically clichéd genres (apart from the two they created) the Suicidal brothers blast out the rage and frustration the way only they can. 'Possessed To Skate', 'No Name, No Words', ' Born To Be Cyco' and 'Suicidal Maniac' pack just as vicious a punch as they did 23 years ago. While the new heavier demon driven riff that backs the slightly re-titled 'Join The ST Army' shows that there's still plenty of anger and talent in the old bones of Muir and Clark just desperate to rip its way out and infect the world once more with some Venice Beach grooves. 

The production by Paul Northfield and Mike Muir is unquestionably bang on the money. Guitars crisp and exciting, full of sound and body, riding over the sea of funk laced bass from Steve Bruner and drum tracks of schizophrenic thunder by both Ron Bruner (on the 'Join The Army' tracks) and Brooks Wackerman (on the 'No Mercy' tracks), it's hard to fault this album in any way shape or form other than the fact it is just a re hash of old glories. I know Muir and Clark are still more than capable of dishing out new tracks as equally as engaging as the old classic stuff so in the back of my mind I am slightly disappointed that this isn't a collection of new material I'm listening to. That said 'No Mercy Fool.......' is a perfect stop gap to tide you over on a journey into what will hopefully stretch into many more years of Suicyco behaviour.

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