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Not many bands can claim to have defined a whole new genre with their debut album, and then, just as suddenly, disappear from view. Terrorizer are that band. Formed in Los Angeles in the late 80's by 3 laid-back, peace- punk (crass, discharge etc) influenced dudes of south american extraction, singer Oscar Garcia was previously in the more mid paced Majesty, but through guitarist Jesse Pintado's early contact with Napalm Death's Mick Harris via tape trading, drummer Pete Sandoval became influenced to speed up their songs immensely and in doing so became one of the very first " grindcore" bands in the USA in the process. Mick and Jesse didn't know it at the time but the Birmingham-Los Angeles friendship they forged in 1988, eventually proved to be crucial to the development of the worldwide grindcore scene that would follow.
During 87-88, Terrorizer played many shows at their local venue, Hoover Park, but found it hard to break out of the local band scene. Their intense "World Downfall" demo tape did the trick , however , having been passed on to Earache by Mick Harris, the label immediately signed the band to a deal and set about making plans to record an album. In 1989 the band flew to Morrisound Recording in Tampa Florida - where Morbid Angel had just completed their own debut album, having recently recruited Pete Sandoval to join them on drums. To return the favour to Terrorizer, Morbid Angel's bassist David Vincent offered to fill in on bass duties on the album, and to helm the production with the aid of studio in-house engineer Scott Burns.After a mere couple of days rehearsal , the band quickly got down to work, and recorded and mixed the soon-to-be-legendary album in 2 days flat.
"World Downfall " was released in September 1989 to immediate acclaim in the extreme metal fraternity. Drummer Pete Sandoval excelled himself, the speed was unbelievable and achieved without any studio trickery whatsoever. His stunning performance is still widely regarded as one of the fastest, most precise displays of drumming ever committed to tape. Aided by a crystal-clear production, the album set the benchmark for extremity in metal,and was rarely bettered even in the following decade, thus earning the band its legendary status.
Terrorizer effectively folded in November 1989, with Jesse following Pete's lead and opting to join a more well known band. Pete had left LA to join Morbid Angel in Tampa earlier in the year , and Jesse relocated to England to join Napalm Death on the eve of the Grindcrusher tour. Oscar remained in LA forming Nausea, who later released one album on local label Wild Rags.
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