Emotional Suicide: Emotional Suicide

The story of Emotional Suicide stretches back some 30 years, the UK outfit independently unleashing a self-titled album in the hopes of snagging enough interest to maybe take their music to a wider audience. With the band specialising in a traditional metal attack that encompassed everything from NWOBHM rashness to something much more thrash in attack, it’s maybe no surprise that the UK in 1993 wasn’t really the place to be and sadly, with little fanfare, the album and band sank without trace.

Fast forward to 2023 and a remastered version of those songs, with new artwork (which I must admit doesn’t really work for me) has been given a second lease of life through German label Golden Core Records. Now, I must admit that (like most of us) I never heard this band first time round so I can’t comment on the upgrade in sound from the original release to this one, but it’s pretty clear that we’re still dealing with a low budget recording from many moons ago. Interestingly, that, in this musical setting, isn’t quite the hindrance you might expect, and instead Emotional Suicide are given a vintage 70s/80s gnarly sheen that initially makes you feel like you’re listening to yet another underground NWOBHM band who deserved to be better know. Just listen to the guitar work on the blistering “Back For More� to understand that in Bud Rogers this outfit had a real six-string weapon in their arsenal, while his singing counterpart Mark Whitlock also had a lot about him to recommend. Admittedly, for me, the issue is that good, if not excellent though Whitlock was here, his attack takes me into an area that feels like a hybrid of Quiet Riot’s Kevin Dubrow and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. In itself both those comparisons are complements but in this musical arena I must admit that his voice takes me out of the chosen style of the rest of the band just a little too much, something the likes of “Resolution� hammers into place.

“Keep Your Demons Down� opens the album in slightly odd fashion, the overall feel coming across as some kind of metal, melodic hard rock crossbreed and it’s not until you get past this first outburst that you get a real feel for what’s going on. “A Dead Man’s Tale� is, thankfully, much more threatening in its attack, “It� positively explodes with a riff heavy thrash attack, while “Sacred Time� contains an underlying foreboding that takes us into early Iron Maiden territory. Expanded out to 14 tracks through the inclusion of 4 pre-album demos, it’s interesting to hear these slightly less polished versions of “The Joker Cries Too�, “Back For More, “Sacred Time� and “Keep Your Demons Down� actually coming across with more authority (other than in the bass drum-sound) than the finished articles quite achieved.

This venture into the vaults with the self-titled debut from Emotional Suicide is a welcome opportunity to be whisked back to a sound that is decades older than its own early 90s time-frame. That said, it’s something of a stretch to suggest that what we missed out on back then was a blast of metal that should have gone stratospheric, but for those who adore the days when the NWOBHM began to morph into something just a little thrashier, this is still an album that offers some rewards.

Track Listing
1. Keep Your Demon Down
2. A Dead Man's Tale
3. Emotional Suicide
4. Back For More
5. Resolution
6. Temporary Insanity
7. Sweet Revenge
8. The Joker Cries Too
9. It
10. Sacred Time
11. Keep Your Demon Down (Demo)
12. The Joker Cries Too (Demo)
13. Back For More (Demo)
14. Sacred Time (Demo)

Added: September 21st 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Emotional Suicide
Hits: 1045
Language: english

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