Terrorizer | ‘Hordes Of Zombies’
March 2007 - I remembered that Terrorizer had put out a new album, “Darker Days Ahead” a while before. So I buy a copy from Amazon.
It came a few days later. I open the package and stare at the cover in more detail. Underwhelmed. But I want to like it for historical and sentimental reasons (Jesse Pintado, lest we forget).
I stick it on and it finishes much later. My immediate reaction is ‘ach, it’s OK.’ I file it next to ‘World Downfall.’
May 2008 - I’m skimming through my collection for something to stick on while I’m heading to work. I notice ‘Darker Days Ahead.’ So it goes into the CD player (keeping it old school). By the time it’s finished, I’ve reached Royal Avenue. Same reaction as before: ‘ach, it’s OK.’ Back it goes in the collection.
I suspect a good lot of people will have similar stories to tell over that album. It wasn’t awful by any stretch of the imagination, but it paled in comparison to what had gone before and most have never had reason to revisit it. So it’s going to take an awful lot to impress (the demo of Hordes of Zombies didn’t exactly set the world alight in 2009, did it?)
Commando (or Pete Sandoval to me and you) maintains his place behind the drums (and sounds surprisingly good for someone who couldn’t play on “Illud Divinum Insanus” because of back trouble. Hmm…….) and Anthony Rezhawk of crust punkers Resistant Culture is still filling Oscar Garcia’s boots.
Katina Culture (also Resistant Culture) has the unenviable task of taking up the mantle left by Pintado, while Disco David Vincent is back on bass for the first time since 1989. Thankfully there’s no killer cult/cop/canary in a coalmine crap on here. But he’s barely noticeable. Bit odd if you ask me.
Almost as if he wanted to align himself with underground music again after the IIIud… fiasco, though that’s doubtable. And with Pete seemingly well enough to drum, it leaves you wondering what his position in Morbid Angel is these days. Is Disco D in on some dirty secret that we don’t know about?
The cover is what you’d expect: a post apocalyptic blah blah blah zombies blah blah blah grey blah blah blah.
Musically, it’s certainly a lot more brutal than ‘Darker Days Ahead.’ Tracks like ‘Flesh to Dust’ and ‘Evolving Era’ are particular stand outs for drumming and guitar work. The problem is that it all feels a little….safe.
The playing is great and there’s nothing to offend death/grind fans. But there’s nothing that makes you want to start windmilling in the bus when it comes on your iPod. Nothing that feels like it’s going to cause the world to fall apart any second.
If this was from a new band, I’d say there’s a lot of promise in there. But it’s Terrorizer. And another one to file away.
2.7 / 5 - Christopher Owens ::: 08/01/12
This is the demo from 2009, as a newer video isn’t up yet. Basically the album version is the same with better production.
January 9th, 2012 at 1:57 am
will give this a listen to see what its like…. im not hopeful.
think you are being a bit generous with your review of darker days ahead tho….
January 9th, 2012 at 2:21 am
Another fuckin terrible review. Eight lines tagged onto the end about the actual album at hand.
January 9th, 2012 at 9:22 am
1/3 explaining why he’s not expecting much.
1/3 name dropping.
1/3 disinterested review.
Absolute shite review!
January 9th, 2012 at 10:00 am
A little harsh, lads, no? The actual review could have been a bit longer and detailed for sure but the background and context of the release is important for this one.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Uninspiring album inspires uninspiring review… surely reading between the lines tells you everything you need to know about how little impact the music made? Personally not surprised he wanted to talk about predominantly other things.
January 9th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Can Christopher Owens please stop writing reviews of albums he doesn’t expect to like in the first place? By fuck is it unprofessional.
January 9th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
In fact, I feel that I must comment about this after giving this review another read.
This is the only part of the review that has anything to do with the music.
‘Musically, it’s certainly a lot more brutal than ‘Darker Days Ahead.’ Tracks like ‘Flesh to Dust’ and ‘Evolving Era’ are particular stand outs for drumming and guitar work. The problem is that it all feels a little….safe.’
To be honest, it’s pathetic. 95% of this review was complaining about the members and one of their previous releases.
Sort it the fuck out.
January 9th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
And yet it perfectly sums up the album: 1/3rd of which is about the brand name, 1/3rd of which about the morbid angel members playing, and about 1/3rd of it about music of any actual quality.
The bottom line is its a disinterested, couldnt be arsed effort from a bunch of people looking for a pension contribution.
A review outlining that in impressionistic rather than straight musical terms fits perfectly, IMO, and that’s why I’m more than happy to run it.
January 9th, 2012 at 6:02 pm
”Uninspiring album inspires uninspiring review… surely reading between the lines tells you everything you need to know about how little impact the music made? Personally not surprised he wanted to talk about predominantly other things.”
Spot on. This is a record that’s largely about milking a name, and the lack of impact of the music on the reviewer speaks volumes. The piece is fine.
January 9th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Think I read somewhere the drums for this were recorded before sandoval went for his surgery,not 100% on that though.Last Terrorizer effort was tripe.Review is grand.
January 9th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
The review is fine and tells me what I need to know (and had guessed anyway). So often e reviews are full of so much window dressing that you cannot tell at the end whether the album is any good or not.
January 10th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Agree that the review is appropriate. Those on the ditch always know better of course.
January 10th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
That sounds like boring shite. Drums suck too. Maybe it just sounds dated.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
re. Sandoval, He did actually have huge problems with his back, it’s no secret he was walking with a cane at the end of his tenure with MA and had to be helped to and from the drum stool sometimes….he had surgery and is on the mend. No massive secret
January 11th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Surely a review should be done with a certain degree of objectivity though and not met with absolute pessimism?
January 11th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
How then would you review “Illud Divinum Insanus : The Remixes”, for example?
January 11th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Jesus that demo is terrible. It’s the first thing I’ve heard from Terrorizer since ‘World Downfall’. I think I’ll make it the last.
January 13th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Like another album.
If someone goes into listening to an album not wanting to enjoy it instead of hoping it will be worth a listen then their opinion is not at all likely to change.
January 13th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Steve, it’s a remix album of mostly shit, widely panned metal tracks. You’d need to listen to the original version of ‘Illud…’ for context so going into it with a view of “objectivity” is null and void in that case.
January 13th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Sometimes remix albums can be worth more than the original imo. American Made Music To Strip By > Hellbilly Deluxe.
January 13th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
I’m going to assume that you haven’t listened to a lick of ‘Illud…’ if you’re comparing a Rob Zombie remix album to Gabba remixes of “BANGIN HARDKORE RADIKULT WE’RE MANIACAL AND ANIMAL.” The premise is terrible and you’ll struggle to find anyone with any objectivity to review over 3 hours of remixes of what were already shit tracks. I would know, I’m currently reviewing it.
The point is, you can dislike the review for the way it’s written and call this guy shite but to say that people should be objective to everything they review before going into it is stupid. The only way to successfully achieve that is to review albums of bands you’ve never heard before so you can’t make a comparison to any of their older work.
Objectivity includes not being optimistic let alone pessimistic.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
darker days is not quite as crucial,but this new shit sounds promising..respect the legends