Okay, let’s face it. Suicide Commando (Johan Van Roy) isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel with this limited two-disk set, [Cause Of Death: Suicide] [One Nation Under God]. The two featured singles, Cause of Death: Suicide and One Nation Under God, both from Axis of Evil, are given the usual treatment: a Suicide Commando remix (or club cut), a couple of rough unreleased tracks, and remixes by some of the top talents of the EBM world. As per usual, Van Roy contributes highly addictive club cuts of his work without changing them so much that they are unrecognizable. The unreleased tracks are what you would expect, typically awesome Suicide Commando material that would sound out of place on a full-length.

What sets these singles apart is the high caliber of re-mixers, including Feindflug, Hocico, Grendel, Assemblage 23 and Torben Schmidt (Lights of Euphoria) with Vasi Vallis (NamNamBulu). As a godfather of the scene, Van Roy could have chosen just about anyone to remix his works, for example EBM dinosaurs Plastic Noise Experience. That’s why it’s exciting that Van Roy largely selected up-and-coming talent for this single. Suicide Commando won’t last forever, but hopefully some of these acts will continue in the vein of Van Roy and those who came before him.

What I didn’t expect from this single is remixes from Converter and :Wumpscut:! In Converter’s case, this is the first time Scott Sturgis and Van Roy have collaborated since Sturgis penned the lyrics to the Suicide Commando track “Acid Bath” (as far as I know, anyway). Hopefully, these two can work together more in the future. The :Wumpscut: remix of “One Nation Under God” is easily my favorite from this set, but it is actually more of a cover, with Rudy Ratzinger re-recording all the vocals with entirely different phrasings.

For more Gothic-Industrial content, along with other electronic music genres, please see the following:

• amGod ‘Dreamcatcher’ Box Review
• Cock E.S.P. / Panicsville: Last Train to Cocksville (review)
• Doormouse: Freaked Out Mess (review)
• Doormouse: Messed Out Freak (review)
• Earth Loop Recall: Compulsion (review)
• Jihad | Live In Bratislava 28-02-2015 – Dark EBM Souls
• N3VOA: Wasted Memories (review)
• Red Reflection: Prelude to Annihilation (review)
• Rob Gee: Na Na / Fuck Osama Bin Laden (review)
• Ulver: Teachings in Silence (review)
• Ulver: A Quick Fix of Melancholy (review)
• Various Artists: Interbreeding II: Industrial Mutation

This review was originally written for MusicWerks Magazine Issue #3, published in August of 2004.

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