On “Caustic Attack” Terrorizer at times sound positively apocalyptic.
“Caustic Attack” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Turbulence 2. Invasion 3. Conflict And Despair 4. Devastate
5. Crisis 6. Infiltration 7. The Downtrodden 8. Trench Of Corruption 9. Sharp Knives 10. Failed Assassin 11. Caustic Attack 12. Poison Gas Tsunami 13. Terror Cycles 14. Wasteland
The Review:
There are few bands in the history of grindcore as significant as Terrorizer, and yet they remain unsung heroes. Napalm Death lay the foundations, alongside contemporaries such as Extreme Noise Terror and Repulsion, but one could argue Terrorizer’swork has seen more of a direct influence.
The band is perhaps most acclaimed for their wildly savage debut, 1989’s “World Downfall”, which famously featured extreme metal demigods, David Vincent of Morbid Angel and Jesse Pintado, who would later join Napalm Death. With the incorporation of a more guttural vocal style as well as more technically accomplished riff work, while still maintaining the necessary socio-political aspect, this interpretation of the style has shown longevity, present in bands such as Wormrot, Nasum, and Insect Warfare. The album was more arcane and menacing than any grindcore album that had come before, and tragically, for 17 years it appeared to be the sole, defiant statement this band would make.
The band has since reformed twice. Firstly, in 2005 to release the so-so “Darker Days Ahead”, which displayed the band performing in a more linear fashion, instead of performing more of the straight-forward death metal Sandoval had been producing with his long-time day-job, Morbid Angel. The album would prove to be the final release featuring Jesse Pintado to be released in his lifetime, and while many look back on it as a fairly unimpressive swansong for an extraordinary character, the album still had moments which would please any fan anticipating their return. The 2012 follow-up
“Hordes of Zombies” proved to be a further disappointment, virtually disregarding the savage hardcore that is so vital to impressive grindcore, and instead striving for a sluggish take on death metal. All hopes appeared dashed in relation to Terrorizer, as many began to forgivably disregard interest in their future.
When a long-standing band releases an album, fans often struggle to resist comparing it to their classic works, for better or for worse. In most cases, it is a valid comparison to make.However, in the case of Terrorizer, it is important to make such a distinction; on “Caustic Attack”, they are down to just a single original member. With the exception of Sandoval, everyone on this album is making a debut performance. This could lead one to question the chemistry of this group; a band with a 30-year legacy ought to have remarkable chemistry, and this could prove difficult when 2/3rds of the band joined in 2013. However, it immediately becomes clear this is not an issue for Terrorizer, as “Caustic Attack” proves to be their most artistically successful album since their 2005 reformation.
It appears Terrorizer(or perhaps just Sandoval) have acknowledged they are a far more impressive grindcore band than they are a death metal band, and for the first time since coming back, they are leaning on that crutch. This provides an immediate refreshing quality to the album; gone is the continuous dirge of low-energy death metal the band have been pedalling for years, and present instead is a more violent, splintered attack. While still not as savage as the band's contemporaries, with Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer still proving they can be more menacing and grotesque than ever, there is an obvious improvement here. The band is clearly superior when they focus on 1-minute displays of brutality, highlights of the album including “Turbulence”, “Invasion”, “Poison Gas Tsunami”, and the intoxicating title-track.
The album is by no means flawless; firstly, some of the tracks are still overly long. Numerous tracks approach 5 minutes, and all of them prove to be the most tiresome moments on the record. The attacks feel dulled when they’re stretched out in this nature and these longer songs are simply not warranted.The production is also a curiosity; it sounds more sharp and well-shaped than any of their past albums, and yet it feels lacking in the low-end and, in some moments, almost sparse. Were this given a production job courtesy of Kurt Ballou, Will Yip or Arthur Risk, this album would see an immediate improvement, and perhaps the tiresome ‘long songs’ would feel more digestible.
Overall, Terrorizerand their fans can call “Caustic Attack” a success; the band has cured some of the glaring ills present on their post-reunion works, as well as writing some songs that fans can genuinely look forward to hearing live and have earnt a place in their set list on merit alone. Grindcore is at its best when it feels like a disaster and on “Caustic Attack”, even if only for brief moments, Terrorizersound positively apocalyptic.
If you want melodic traditional heavy metal with a penchant for hard rock sensibilities, there are few bands better and you won't hear a better album of that style than this one released in 2018.
“New Gods” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Prisoner of the Past 2. Letting Go 3. No Longer 4. Save the Truth – Syracuse 5. Never Be Found 6. Drown 7. Together as None 8. Isolation 9. Last Request
The Review:
Cauldron are back, close to three years after “In Ruin” and are not straying too far from their original raison d'etre: old school heavy metal, old school sounds, old school songs. Yep, Cauldronare plugging away; on the road, in the studio, presumably in a less than salubrious rehearsal room... Cauldron keep on keeping on.
“Prisoner of The Past” picks up where “In Ruin” left off, with tight and crunchy riffage- plus a dose of melody of course. The drums still thud like 83, rather than snapping like 2018 and reverb is present on the vocals and, indeed, all instruments. “Letting Go” is a melodic and dark track as the title suggests; with both of the first two tracks sounding like a wound down Accept, musically, if not vocally. Nice chorus and anthemic riffs combine to good effect.
Truthfully, I think the likes of “No Longer”could stand to be a little shorter (oh sweet prescient irony), but these are not thrashing and urgent tracks. They are hard rocking, but with quite some emphasis on rock rather than metal this time out. Again, the spectre of early Leppardis present at this feast- but it is a welcome apparition. The darkness of “Save The Truth- Syracuse” is well honed as the band again find their mid tempo groove.
“Never Be Found” doesn't move things around too much in terms of initial approach but the pre-chorus and chorus really lift this up. Great song writing and hooks. “Drown” sounds like a prime Paradise Lost track at first- a turn up for the books, but I was waiting for the tempo to lift and it did! This time, the band rip out some more thrashy riffs and it is a welcome throw back to the “Chained To The Nite” opus. Great cut.
“Together as None” is very light weight in comparison- there is plenty of light and shade on this album, for sure, but this particular track is a little too (bitter) sweet for my tastes and could easily have turned up on any hair metal album you could care to name. “Isolation”, meanwhile, fulfils its titular promise of dark sounds, being as it is an instrumental and a good one. It's maudlin and brooding and one of the best things on the record. It sets thing up nicely for the appropriate “Last Request”which is another album highlight; a little quicker, a little heavier, a little more bite.
“New Gods” represents both more of the same for Cauldron and is also leaning a bit further towards the melodic song writing present on all their releases thus far. For me, I yearn for some of the crunchier riffage that was present on earlier career tracks such as “Conjure The Mass”, but no one can deny the quality of the songs here. If you want melodic traditional heavy metal with a penchant for hard rock sensibilities, there are few bands better and you won't hear a better album of that style than this one released in 2018.
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