Terrordrome
Vehement Convulsion
7
Synopsis:
While big death metal names like Decrepit Birth, Neuraxis, Hate Eternal, Origin, Hail Of Bullets, Dead Congregation and such are certainly gathering well deserved praise this year, a number of relatively lesser known and new bands are also releasing some solid death metal efforts; Trigger The Bloodshed, Battalion, Porkfarm, Detrimentum, Inveracity, Hung, Hour of Penance as well as Greece’s Terrordrome.
Review:
Despite the awful moniker, Terrordrome’s debut is a solid effort of what I would call ‘Unique Leader’ styled death metal; blasting, brutal, technical death metal with ultra guttural vocals and typically Suffocation-y styled song titles (“Disputing The Throne”, “Eradicate The Indigence”, “Inhibit The Discord”, “Revile The Vagary”, etc). There’s nothing remotely creative or new here, and it has a slightly tinny production, (especially the snare drum), but it's worthy for a quick 30 minute assault of above average brutal death metal.
Not as Suffocation obsessed as country mates Inveracity, Terrordrome are definitely far more rooted in the squeally, blasty side of death metal, hence the Unique Leader tag, and the guitar work, while generally stuttering, tremolo based riffage, slices and dices rather than hacks and smashes. That mixed with the guttural vocals and a few expected lurches make for a par for the course death metal album that might be a little too hectic for its own good. It’s not like Gigan or anything, but I just detect a slight clash between the more intellectual style of the music vs. the vocal and typical lyrical themes (“Festivity of Clitoris Licking”?). It’s like the band is limiting themselves.
Still, in a year that’s seen a slew of great death metal, I’m not quite sure if Terrodrome is going to make any waves despite their relatively high quality. It’s certainly an above average death metal record and the players are certainly skilled, but I’m just not sure even if tracks like “No Oral Hesitations” or “Infected Fornication (Inception Of Carnal Enslavement)” will bring me back for further voluntary listens. However, I’ll certainly keep an eye for this band to see if they think outside of the rotten, putrid clichéd box (like the last half of “Revile the Vagary” hints at) and deliver their skills in a slightly more challenging setting.
