Johan Van Roy has been producing harsh electronic music under the monicker of
Suicide Commando for some time, and Mindstrip does not mark a departure from this idea. This release is more of what fans of
Suicide Commando have come to expect -- aggressive, danceable electronica with distorted vocals and hard drum loops on a solid line. Throw in some ambient noise and some well-placed and selected samples, and that is the basis of Mindstrip. What sets this album apart from releases by similar acts is that it is done so well. The tracks move between dark and portentous (such as "Jesus Wept") to complete aggression at high beats per minute, such as the flagship singles "Hellraiser" and "Comatose Delusion." The simplicity of slower tunes. such as "Run." do not mean that they are any less catchy. The result is that Mindstrip is one of the tightest releases by
Suicide Commando to date. Fans of acts such as Wumpscut and Hocico will doubtless find Mindstrip to their tastes. This is not a release which one would turn to in order to find something ground-breaking, but Mindstrip is not that kind of album.
Suicide Commando continues to put together some of the best hard electro industrial in the business. ~ Theo Kavadias