Suicide Commando is a Belgian electro-industrial music act formed by Johan Van Roy in 1986.[1] For live shows, it consists of Van Roy himself on vocals, Torben Schmidt on keyboards, and Mario Vaerewijck on drums.
History
Van Roy began experimenting with electronic music back in 1986. Two years later, he released his first tape under the moniker Suicide Commando, and his track appeared on the vinyl compilation Electronic. He continued to release more tapes until he was signed by the rising German label Off Beat. Van Roy's first album, Critical Stage, was released in 1994. The following year, he released a second album, Stored Images, which contains one of his most popular songs, "See You in Hell". In 1996, he released the compilation album Contamination for the act's tenth anniversary.
In 1998, Suicide Commando released the album Construct-Destruct and its sister release, Reconstruction, which included the new club hits "Desire" and "Better Off Dead".
Van Roy was one of the founders of the Dependent label in 1999. It was on this new label that Suicide Commando's next releases, the singles "Hellraiser" and "Comatose Delusion" and the EP Love Breeds Suicide, accompanied Suicide Commando's 2000 release, Mindstrip. Mindstrip reached number one on the German alternative chart (DAC).[citation needed] It was licensed and released in North America by Metropolis Records. In 2002, Suicide Commando released the DCD Anthology on Dependent, a "best of" compilation, which included the band's biggest hits "Hellraiser", "See You in Hell", "Love Breeds Suicide", and offered some exclusive new remixes and rare versions.
Suicide Commando's next release, Axis of Evil, was voted album of the year (2003) by the Deutsche Alternative Charts (DAC).[citation needed] In 2006, Suicide Commando returned with the album Bind, Torture, Kill, which was preceded by the single "Godsend + Menschenfresser". "Godsend + Menschenfresser" peaked at #2 on the DAC Singles charts[2] while the album reached the top position in the DAC, ranked #8 on the DAC Top Albums of 2006,[3] and was voted album of the month in the German Orkus magazine.[citation needed]
Released in 2007, one year after the band's 20th anniversary, was the X20 boxset including 3 CDs (one remix CD, one "best of" CD and the Fuck You Bitch EP) and Suicide Commando's very first live DVD. In 2009, Suicide Commando signed a deal with the German Out of Line label. The first release on Out of Line was the 7" "severed head/until we die", not much later followed by a new EP called "die motherfucker die" which once again reached the top position in the German alternative chart. In 2010, Suicide Commando released the implements of hell album on Out of Line in three different editions and once again licensed in the US by Metropolis Records.
In 2011, Suicide Commando re-released their first three studio albums as The Suicide Sessions, a special limited six-CD box including remastered versions of his first three albums Critical Stage, Stored Images, and Construct-Destruct, and three discs with much bonus material and many previously unreleased songs. One year later, van Roy returned with "Attention Whore", as the lead single from the album When Evil Speaks, which was released in 2013 and reached the official German Media Control Charts at position 47. At the end of 2013, "Unterwelt" was released as the second single from When Evil Speaks.
In 2015, Suicide Commando returned with "The Pain That You Like" (featuring Jean Luc de Meyer from Front 242 as a guest vocalist) as the lead single from the album Forest of the Impaled (2017). The album reached the official German Media Control Charts at position 28.[citation needed]
Discography
Studio albums
"Bind, Torture, Kill" redirects here. For the serial killer known for using that phrase, see Dennis Rader.
^"Biography". Suicide Commando. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
^ ab"DAC Top 100 Singles 2005". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2006. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^ ab"DAC Top 50 Albums 2006". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
^Sansone, Glen (12 April 1999). "RPM"(PDF). CMJ New Music Report. 58 (613). Great Neck, NY: College Media, Inc.: 30. ISSN0890-0795. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^"DAC Top 50 2000". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2001. Archived from the original on 11 February 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^Comer, M. Tye (5 February 2001). "RPM"(PDF). CMJ New Music Report. 66 (700). New York, NY: College Media, Inc.: 29. ISSN0890-0795. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ ab"DAC Top 100 Singles 2000". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2001. Archived from the original on 23 April 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^"DAC Top 50 Singles 2001". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2002. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
^"DAC Top 100 Singles 2003". Trendcharts oHG. AMC Alster Musik Consulting GmbH. 2004. Archived from the original on 10 January 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
