A word to the uninitiated – Terror are not a hardcore band for the faint of heart. Their sound is as bruising as the genre offers and their nihilistic attitude oozes hard truths and grim reality. There’s some dark comedy for sure, but posi they are not, and if big pits and flailing bodies sounds like your idea of hell then stick to the edges if you venture to see them live.‘The 25th Hour’ is the band’s sixth full length and, as one generally expects from the genre, you aren’t getting anything here which they haven’t given you before. This is a continuation of their indubitably uncompromising melee of juggernaut riffs, crushing breakdowns and furious barking vocals, and if you’ve already decided they aren’t up your street then nothing here will change your mind.
Most of the tracks clock in at not much over a minute (the whole record is 22 minutes long) and despite hitting their 40s, these boys simply are not interested in pandering to anyone’s taste or for that matter slowing down. As infamously unpredictable vocalist Scott Vogel puts it on the second track in, “No time, no time for fools, ain’t got no time, no time for you”.
Leaving their youth behind has done absolutely nothing to temper their venom, and this is aptly demonstrated in ‘Bad Signs’ where they shift on a sixpence from a mid-paced breakdown into an absolute freight train of a verse which simply bowls you over.
‘The Solution’ meanwhile features a huge intro with pounding drums and a ski-jump of a pick-slide before dropping into a chorus that stabs like blades. Terror’s music is simple in premise but they are accomplished musicians and their riffs are as gnarly as any heavy rock band you could care to mention.
‘Sick and Tired’ takes a swat at posers who wear violence like a fashion label and crave adulation for being in a hardcore band. “Your record sales and all that nonsense, you wanna be a rockstar go do it someplace else” spits Vogel, leaving you in little doubt regarding his own value of ethics and integrity.
In final track ‘Deep Rooted’ they save the best until last. It’s basically an absolute choon with a gang vocal chorus so insistently rousing that you find yourself listening again just to envisage shouting it out loud in a live setting.
Terror may reticent to compromise their approach, but unlike so many others they manage to keep within their style guide without ever sounding worn out or irrelevant. They are as energetic and punishing now as at any point in their history, and ‘25th Hour’ is up there with their best work.
4/5
‘The 25th Hour’ by Terror is out now on Century Media (UK) / Victory Records (US).
Terror links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Alex Phelan (@listen_to_alex)
