UMUR
"No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family" is a compilation release by US, California based crossover thrash metal act Suicidal Tendencies. The compilation was released through Suicidal Records in September 2010. The 14 tracks on the 47:46 minutes long album are predominantly re-recordings of tracks from Suicidal Tendencies second full-length studio album "Join the Army (1987)" and the debut and sole full-length studio album "Widespread Bloodshed...Love Runs Red (1987)" by Mike Muir´s and Mike Clark´s side project No Mercy. In addition to that "No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family" features three No Mercy tracks which weren´t originally featured on "Widespread Bloodshed...Love Runs Red (1987)". Also in re-recorded versions. A couple of the tracks were also featured on the split album "Year of the Cycos (2008)".
It´s the second time Suicidal Tendencies have re-recorded No Mercy material for a Suicidal Tendencies release, as the "Controlled by Hatred/Feel Like Shit...Déjà Vu (1989)" compilation album also features re-recorded No Mercy tracks. "No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family" also marks the second time the band have re-recorded material from "Join the Army (1987)", as "War Inside My Head" and "A Little Each Day" from that album, were already re-recorded and included on "Still Cyco After All These Years (1993)".
Re-recording material from classic releases isn´t always the greatest idea, and in many cases the end result upsets the fans and critics. In the case of "Join the Army (1987)" and "Widespread Bloodshed...Love Runs Red (1987)", both releases featured relatively poor sounding productions in their original versions, and in that regard re-recording material from those releases at least makes sense from a sound quality point on view. If the band are able to capture the raw primal energy of the original versions is another matter, but sound quality wise "No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family" features a sound production where you are able to hear every instrument and what is being played. It´s not necessarily a great sounding production though, and to my ears the bass is too metallic "clicky" and lacks bottom. The addition of funky slap bass playing on "Suicidal Maniac" isn´t that great either, but on the other hand I understand the 2010 version of Suicidal Tendencies wish to put their own spin on the material. The slap bass playing is thankfully a bit more restrained on the remaining tracks.
The overall tracklist flow and the consistency and quality of the material are high enough and if nothing else listening to the re-recorded versions of the "classic" tracks made me want to go back and listen to the original albums again. Compared to "Still Cyco After All These Years (1993)" which was also a re-recordings compilation album, "No Mercy Fool!/The Suicidal Family" aren´t nearly as accomplished, but to those who had a hard time enjoying "Join the Army (1987)" and "Widespread Bloodshed...Love Runs Red (1987)" because of the poor sounding production jobs, this may be a good way of getting aquainted with the material from those releases. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.