Psychopathic Terror
Fucker
6.7
The chances of you having never heard of Finland’s Psychopathic Terror before are very strong as this is their first official release, but the possibility that you’re all too familiar with the sound they’re striving for is most definitely a reality. Originally recorded in the summer of 2003 but now finally receiving a proper release through Serpent's Eye Records (with Firebox handling distribution), Fucker is a total throwback to the days of old paying homage to the renowned Sunlight Studio sound that sliced and diced its way throughout the metal underground in the 90’s. Unfortunately the production comes up a tad short, especially in the guitar sound, which is what made those older records from the likes of Dismember and Entombed so legendary. You can tell that’s what they were going for here, but the recording is missing that buzz-saw, axe driven rigorous bite that was so prevalent on your favorite albums from that era. Not to mention that the simplicity on display here comes nowhere near the technical mastery heard in that Sunlight time period.
The vocals come in the standard form of the cookie monster growling and never really veer from that path. The drums keep the pace of the songs in very up tempo fashion with a typical thrash beat heard throughout most of the album and they rarely venture outside of that realm. There are times when the snare hits will be cut in half with some rolling double kick, allowing the riffs to groove more than pummel, and other times the basic 4/4 will accentuate the grooves and melodic overlays bringing the milder Wolverine Blues-era Entombed to mind immediately. This is a complete riff fest with no surprises, spawning simplicity in the form of “let’s play this riff four times, then this riff four times” and so on with no technical heroics to speak of. With that said I have found myself sporting half a grimace on tracks like "Bring Me the Head of the Prosecutor", "Vengeance in Black" & "Dead Man Walking", while other songs like opener "Let There Be Revenge" and "Renaissance of Your Life (A Bloodbath)" seem to steamroll over me leaving me crushed to bits. Track six, "Teurastis", is probably my favorite song, which has a riff that has a note getting slightly bent out of tune bringing older Celtic Frost riffage to mind, and a simple n' chunky middle section throwing a nod to legendary Floridians Obituary. There is a lead toward the end that is solid enough and finishes with some high pitched notes containing tons of delay that adds a nice twist. The final two songs, "This Society is Full of Shit" & "Fuck the Police" (no, not an N.W.A. cover), are apparently from a different recording and sound like leftovers from this group's main project, black metal outfit Diaboli, containing a vocal mix with reverb seemingly straight from darkest pits of hell. The riffing is similar to the previous songs but the recording on these two tracks is somewhat unbearable and has nothing on that of the previous six numbers.
At the end of the day many folks are more likely to pass this one up because they probably have plenty of albums like this already, and if you don’t then this may not be the one to start with if you’ve been tempted to stroll down that blistering Swedish death metal road thanks to this review. There are a number of releases from the afore-mentioned Entombed and Dismember with Carnage and Unleashed also being bands to be considered. While many may feel there is no real need for bands to even venture down this road these days, a band like Bloodbath will undoubtedly beg to differ as they have seemed to master this sound with their nostalgic nod to those glorious days of old. They have shown the way and any band looking to take a gamble down that road should look up their most recent effort to see how it is done in the new millennium. Anything short of that can hardly be considered essential in 2006.
