SUICIDAL TENDENCIES — Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu (review)

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES — Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 1989 · Crossover Thrash

3.5/5 · 2020-11-26
UMUR

"Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu" is a compilation release by US thrash/heavy metal act Suicidal Tendencies. The compilation was released through Epic Records in October 1989 and bridges the gap between the band´s third and fourth full-length studio albums "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988)" and "Lights... Camera... Revolution! (1990)". The band have often been cited for calling it a double EP, and tracks 1-4 of the release are labeled as "Controlled by Hatred" while tracks 5-9 are labeled as "Feel Like Shit...Deja-Vu". No seperate EPs ever existed though.

"Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu" is a bit of an interesting collection of tracks, as the compilation features four No Mercy covers, one Los Cycos cover, one unreleased track from the "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988)" recording sessions, one freshly recorded original track, a "heavy emotion version" of "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow" and a video edit version of "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow". While the latter is a bit redundant if you already own "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988)", the rest of the material featured on the release is definitely worth the price of admission.

Both Los Cycos and No Mercy were short lived side-projects led by Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir (Muir co-founded No Mercy with guitarist Mike Clark, who would soon after become a member of Suicidal Tendencies), while he worked on deciding if he would continue Suicidal Tendencies. Suicidal Tendencies ran into several issues during their early years, because of violence at their shows and the Los Angeles Police accusing the band of gang relations, which eventually led to a ban from playing live shows in their home town. Muir therefore gave it some serious thought if he was gonna continue with Suicidal Tendencies, and in the meantime kept busy with both Los Cycos and No Mercy as well as starting to produce music and also created his own record label Suicidal Records.

Los Cycos only recorded one track titled "It's Not Easy", which was originally featured on the "Welcome to Venice (1985)" compilation album and No Mercy (who also appeared on the "Welcome to Venice (1985)" compilation) only released one studio album and a couple of minor releases. The four No Mercy covers on "Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu" are all culled from that project´s sole studio album "Widespread Bloodshed Love Runs Red (1987)". Stylistically neither Los Cycos nor No Mercy are very far from the crossover thrash metal of Suicidal Tendencies, and if you didn´t know better you´d probably think this was just leftover Suicidal Tendencies material from 1985-1988. So despite the different recording history of the original tracks, there is a good flow and stylistic consistency to "Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu".

Highlights include "Waking the Dead", "Feel like Shit... Deja-Vu", and "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow (Heavy Emotion version)". While acoustic versions of classic tracks aren´t always the most successful formula, the "heavy emotion version" of "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow" is actually quite intriguing. So it´s definitely worth a mention here. "Waking the Dead" is a nice heavy track with a menacing thrashy riff and rhythm. Maybe slightly too long and repetitive, but damn... that riff is heavy. "Feel like Shit... Deja-Vu" is the track on the compilation which sounds mostly like a transition track between "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988)" and "Lights... Camera... Revolution! (1990)".

Upon conclusion "Controlled by Hatred / Feel Like Shit... Deja-Vu" is a compilation that most fans of the 1985-1988 period of the band´s discography will probably enjoy listening to. To my ears the sound production could have prospered from a more powerful guitar tone, but it´s overall a relatively well sounding release, considering the time of release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks, I actually did a lot of research before writing this review a couple of years ago. Hopefully I´ve gotten all the facts right, because I´ve read quite a few reviews featuring different facts :-).

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I never knew the history of these songs. Great piece of research! I do love this album though. Waking The Dead is the heaviest thing ST ever recorded.