Suicide Machines - War Profiteering Is Killing Us CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

and more "who-oh-oh" than any sensible person would count, all diffused into two-minute socially conscious ditties -- in the year 2005. Strictly from a musical standpoint, War Profiteering has a few unexpectedly tuneful winners ("Ghosts on Sunset Blvd.," "Hands Tied," "Bottomed Out"), as well as a couple whose sheer ferocity impresses (the title track, "17% 18 to 25"). Sadly, the band tends to focus its political commentary on targets that are so easy (Yes, heroin can ruin your life! And nuclear power plants are bad!), they may as well have called the album Mean People Suck.

Finally -- a band that actually sounds angry and has something to say. Although the hardcore mayhem that pushes the title track into the stratosphere isn't a constant thread throughout the album, the Detroit old-school punk group seems especially inspired this time out. Hats off to war and corporate greed, then!