Review: Suicide’s Alan Vega Leaves a Fearless Final Statement

Alan Vega, who co-founded the electro-noise duo
Suicide in New York in 1970, died last year. But he did not go gentle into that
good night – as if there were any doubt. This posthumous album, recorded over
six years with his wife, Liz Lamere, is proof. Knowing he was crafting his
farewell, Vega leaves as he arrived, raging over Suicide-style industrial
grinds. “We can see it/The red, white and blue is destroyed/Destroyed!”
he snarls on “Screamin Jesus,” which begins and ends with dizzying,
throat-shredding shrieks. He was punk rock’s battlefield reporter, staring into
the horror and relaying it back, uncensored. R.I.P., man.