Albums by this artist

Suicide Invoice (2002)

Hot Snakes

Suicide Invoice

» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Hot Snakes
Suicide Invoice
Swami, 2002
RiYL: Fugazi, Rocket From The Crypt/Drive Like Jehu, Cursive
Hot Snakes are like the bully that fucks with your head before bashing it in -- a bracing combination of musical smarts and brute force that manifests itself throughout the relentless Suicide Invoice. It's a testament to the enduring talent of guitarist John Reis and frontman Rick Froberg that Hot Snakes arguably one-ups the rock thrills purveyed both by their original Drive Like Jehu project and the Reis-fronted Rocket From The Crypt.

Suicide Invoice blasts off with "I Hate The Kids," the first of many tunes that find Froberg venting at anyone and everything in sight. "The older you get, the less you're worth," he shouts, as guitars scissor kick through the air behind him. "Gar Forgets His Insulin" stomps the accelerator to the floor, burning through the head-over-heels riffs as fast as the band can play them.

The band's ability to extract melody from rude, dissonant power chords ensures that these songs get lodged firmly in the brain. "XOX" weds AC/DC-worthy axework to unbridled hardcore energy, while the stellar "LAX" and "Bye Nancy Boy" raise the intensity even higher with convulsive riffing and Froberg's defiant barks. "Unlisted" even makes a run at radio accessibility as it revives the riff from Urge Overkill's "Sister Havana."

Froberg seems to hold his subjects to unusually high standards, enlivening Suicide Invoice with a gritty topical underside. The friend who has dropped off the map in "Who Died" is essentially written off as a social casualty, while Froberg sounds genuinely apologetic that he couldn't hold up his end of the "bargain" described in the title cut: "When I dream, I keep my promises to you / I really do."

Like some kind of elite military unit, the Hot Snakes are in and out in just shy of 33 minutes, having laid waste to the competition with icy cold precision. Join them, or suffer the consequences.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"