Terrorama
Omnipotence
6.9
Terrorama, while hailing from Sweden, do not fall into either the melodic death metal or Stockholm death metal categories that make up the country's primary metal exports. Terrorama’s style harkens back to the mid-eighties, when the boundaries between thrash, death and black metal were far less distinct, and bands like Bathory, Sodom, and Kreator, were issuing their raw, barbaric debuts. In fact the band specifically states on their myspace page that they are not influenced by anything after 1990.
Terrorama’s sound is generally more melodic than most thrash or death metal bands, as they tend to eschew the muted, chromatic sixth string chugging that is so commonplace in both genres. Instead, Terrorama favor ringing, rapid fire power chord riffs that are more common to hardcore punk, but rest assured, in Terrorama’s hands, as in Darkthrone’s, they come out pure metal. Vocally, though, there is no melody to be had: only a merciless black metal rasp that ignites the compositions like a sonic blow torch.
Terrorama’s eighties fetish apparently carries over to production as well, as the sound has an organic rawness to it that gives Omnipotence a loose, live feel. This lack of polish helps to convey the band’s energetic performance. The only downside to the raw production style is a lack of clarity in the drum sound.
Terrorama do a fine job of creating some energetic and suitably evil sounding black/death/thrash metal. However, there are a few problems: While there are riffs here and there on Omnipotence that will surely catch your ear, the songs themselves tend to run together. This is due at least in part, to the fact that the songs, aside form a few interludes, all tend to cruise along at the same rapid tempo. Another problem is that although Terrorama’s sound is a somewhat uncommon amalgamation of metal styles, it is still derivative, and none of these riffs will sound new to you.
Despite its shortcomings, Omnipotence is still an enjoyable listen and Terrorama’s style of death/black/thrash makes for a nice pacifier while I wait for Destroyer 666 to finally release another album. Bottom line: Good, not great.
