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The Gauntlet: Terror 2000 |
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TERROR 2000 has arrived to deliverer a much-needed "reeducation" in violence to the waning (i.e. dead) American thrash scene. Greats like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Testament, Overkill and a host of other lesser known (but crushing nonetheless) bands like Vio-Lence and Dark Angel not only helped invent a whole scene but dominated it as well. Thrash metal was a brass-knuckled fist-in-the-face to the bubble gum, hair bands that clogged the airwaves in the '80s. Europe offered up incredible acts like Germany's Destruction and Kreator, but the balance of power remained firmly tipped in the American's favor…until a ragged bunch of flannel-wearing slackers moped out of Seattle to seemingly put an end to all things metal. The stalwarts of thrash never recovered. The smaller bands died away like a parasite cut off from its host once the giants of the genre started to move in a decidedly…different direction. Most of the '90s remained bleak for the thrash faithful that were forced to find refuge in the past, with hopes of a new genre gem unpromising at best. But the late '90s saw a glorious unfolding of new talent. Like a fungus that just won't die, thrash metal started crawling back from its premature grave, but this time the Europeans were leading the way, and the sounds emanating from the underground scene were rawer, more ferocious and decidedly more rock 'n' roll than anything we'd experienced in the past. And the country that stood at the center of the fervor was little ol' Sweden.
By 1998, Sweden picked up the dismantled pieces of the American scene and put them back together in the form of bands like The Haunted. And in 1999, an unknown band called Killing Machine joined the fight for thrash metal supremacy. Eventually changing their name to TERROR 2000, the four-piece hammered out their first album, the aptly titled Slaughterhouse Supremacy (Pavement/Scarlet), at Underground Studios (Carnal Forge, Necrodeath). Led by charismatic Soilwork front man, Björn "Speed" Strid and rounded out by Soilwork drummer Henry Ranta (who has since left to concentrate on The Defaced and Soilwork), Darkane guitarist Klas Ideberg and Nick Sword (guitar), TERROR 2000 recorded a blistering album that took the rawness and ferocity of Bay Area bands like Exodus and combined it with the distinctly '90s Swedish "At the Gates sound" and the rock 'n' roll hooks of metal veterans like Judas Priest. Along with the aforementioned The Haunted and other European upstarts like Dew-Scented, TERROR 2000 brought vitality, aggression and (most importantly) fun back into the thrash scene. Good songs didn't hurt either.
The Terrors return this summer with Faster Disaster. Rarely does a name say it all, but the album title coupled with songs like the scorching opener "Back With Attack," "Headrush" (with its all-too-true chorus of "Headrush, headrush/Bang your head against the stage/Headrush, headrush/Hipping out as the volume gets higher"), the title track and the decidedly death 'n' roll closer "Killing Machine" let the listener know immediately that they're in for a rollicking, speed-filled, beer-driven thrash metal breakdown. Complete with kick-ass riffing, adrenaline-soaked pacing and racing-themed artwork (courtesy of ex-Soilwork keyboard player Carlos Del Olmo), Faster Disaster has everything a thrash metal fiend needs, hell, they've even thrown in some Van Halen for good measure. Want metal? Get TERROR 2000. Now, sucka.
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