Suicide File

Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For (2005)

jamespastepunk

With a retrospective CD as high quality as Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For, there's a compelling urge to turn the review into a diatribe against the scene, metalcore, or the current hot topic, throw in an MP3 link and then call it a day. Suicide File deserve much better than that as their epitaph, having broken up in 2003, thus, I'm stuck.

The truth is, the CD is straight up sick. Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For is a testament to old-school hardcore, with 13 of the 18 songs clocking in at under two minutes and a palpable anger aiming at a multitude of targets, usually at politics, with a handful about society, two or three about girls, and one wonderful song about a landmine. It's virulent stuff in the most angry, bitter, spiteful and raging sense of the word.

Musically, they wouldn't be too far from Bane, except with less metal and experimentation. In fact, for their swan song, the Suicide File went on tour with the above group, where I saw them absolutely blow the roof off of Chicago's Bottom Lounge.

For the most part, the musicianship is superb, the lyrics are mostly quite thoughtful, but occasionally suffers from the saturation F-bombings. Still, you could do a lot worse than Dave Weinberg's diatribes, even if his lyrical muse has an overactive potty mouth.

The material is comprised from various 7 inches, including their first EP, their split with RNR, demos and compilations. Thusly, there's a wide range of recording styles and qualities, but the end result isn't hard to choke down.

For those looking for a no-bullshit approach to hardcore, look no further. With the new material from Comeback Kid and Paint It Black being released so close to it, inevitably, Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For will get lost in the shuffle. These songs certainly aren't mistakes, and you won't regret the purchase.
MP3s at Indecision Records