Published on May 17, 1999
For a “one-off” band, Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D.) is sure
building up a discography.
Last we heard from the guys who made “P.C.” persona non grata,
they staged a brief reunion, released as
Live At Budokan. Recorded seven years after they forever
left their mark on metal with
Speak English Or Die, Billy Milano and crew proved that they
still knew how to deliver the goods and make a punch in the face
seem like the highest pleasure.
Now, seven years after
Live At Budokan, Milano, guitarist Scott Ian, bassist Danny
Lilker and drummer Charlie Benante return for S.O.D.’s long-awaited
sophomore studio effort,
Bigger Than The Devil. While there still is a lot of the
outrageous tongue-in-cheek humor that has been the characteristic
of this band, it also reflects a group that is 14 years older,
wiser and – dare I say it? – mature.
First, a warning: you have to have either a sense of humor or a
knowledge of who S.O.D. really is before listening to this. If you
take any of the more outrageous statements personally, you need to
get a life. For that matter, click the “back” button on your
browser, and check out a different review. This one would just get
your blood pressure raised.
Now, then… Milano proves time and time again he is one of the
most powerful hardcore singers/screamers in the business, and the
years have not diminished his menacing bellows. From the opening
bars of the title track, you know that Milano means business.
Musically, S.O.D. hasn’t slowed down a beat – that is, until you
get to “The Song That Don’t Go Fast,” a great inside joke. S.O.D.
gives us the chance to watch them laugh at themselves, notably on
“Shenanigans,” which makes reference to the incident where Ian was
arrested after breaking into the New York Yankees spring training
facility.
Like the previous works of S.O.D.,
Bigger Than The Devil contains a lot of material that, if
taken out of context, would offend a lot of people. But if you take
the time to listen to the music and read the lyrics, you’d be
hard-pressed to take the more outrageous stuff serious. Tracks like
“Free Dirty Needles,” “The Crackhead Song” and “Make Room, Make
Room” are prime examples; no doubt some politician is going to go
on the air and decry these songs as a sign of society today. Allow
me to be the first to say: SHUT UP!!!
But if you think S.O.D. is all fun and games, the band dares to
turn serious in the moshing with tracks like “We All Bleed Red,” a
disrespectful ode to the great melting pot of humanity that many
people don’t want to recognize. Who woulda thunk it – S.O.D. with a
message?
While the playing is excellent on this album and it is well
worth checking out, there is something missing from
Bigger Than The Devil that was on
Speak English Or Die. Whether it’s a total “devil-may-care”
attitude (no pun intended) because it was just a fun, goofy side
project, or it’s a sense of urgency to the music because of limited
studio time, I’m not sure. But there is something missing in the
equation that was there before – and the album does suffer a little
because of its absence.
Still,
Bigger Than The Devil is a reminder not only that hardcore
is still alive, but that music can still be fun and doesn’t have to
be serious all the time. S.O.D. have made their career spreading
that message, and with this album, they dust off the Doc Martens to
do it again.