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Terror 2000 > Terror for Sale > 2005, CD, Nuclear Blast > Reviews
Terror 2000 - Terror for Sale

The little class clown who couldn't - 50%

autothrall, May 15th, 2010

With their third album, Terror 2000 continued to polarize their intentions, moving further into an awkward, silly lyrical territory while continuing to utilize the same rhythmic thrust, led by the twin guitars of Ideberg and Sword. This was also the first album on which Speed himself did not perform the bass, those duties being taken on by Dan Svensson. It also feels really 'samey' sounding, as if nearly every riff on the entire record were already used on one of the previous outings, and they're just re-assembled here and dowsed in hideously unfunny lyrics.

I'm serious. These are not even remotely comic in the crudest of sense, an endless rattling off of cliches that forever haunt the metal life style, or shall I qualify that as the 'rock star' lifestyle. Drink booze, take some drugs, party, and pay lip service to your metal heroes. An endless cycle of excess! Truly this is artistry on the cutting edge of the surreal! You see, when Tankard wrote songs like "Commandments" and "Zombie Attack", it was the 80s. It was actually pretty funny then, because for all the silliness, they were played rather straight, and the very practice of humor in metal was still quite novel. By 2005, this is long past its expiration date, and hearing self-referential tripe about being a rock and roll star, no matter how ironic, just feels too hammy to evoke a genuine giggle.

'I wanna be a hunk with a metalguitar, cause people tell me i could go pretty far
I need some kicks as in Kerry King licks, and get the chicks by the bar'

Such are the insights of "King Kong Song", one of many ill titles on this record, that include the "Metal Mosh Massacre", "Wrath of the Cookie Monster", and "Satans Barbecue". Perhaps the one title I smiled at was "Liquor Saved me From Sports", because it seems like there could be some truth in that. But in the end, there's just no overarching concept to Terror 2000 which is the measure of all of metal's funniest acts. Cliche after cliche, and the goofy vocal whining mantras the band includes in tracks like "Flesh Fever Fiesta" really drag this album down the gutter, no matter how many violent, thrashing outbursts the guitars have lined up.

Oh, and they do thrash, with the same level of tireless momentum that Faster Disaster displayed, and a denser, thicker tone. But there's nothing novel about the band's energy this time, and in fact, it all feels pretty exhausting here. Speed is sounding even closer to his 21st century Soilwork vocals, which have grown even more in tune to Anselmo, though he adds more gang shouting atmosphere here, some growls, and avoids the melodies of his main band. The solos are pretty boss, wheeling and winding their way below the retarded lyrics, and this is really the downfall here. They're like a fecal frosting on your birthday cake, signed 'Metal is here to stay', and unless you're the odd scat lover, you will probably never bring your business the that bakery again.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Hilarious yes, but also truly violent - 88%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, October 21st, 2008

Terror 2000 is a quite strange band for a point of view. They passed through the sheer lyrical and musical aggression of their debut to a sort of more controlled thrash metal on the second album to end in a sort of parody on this Terror For Sale album. I think I have an answer to this: they formed this band just to have fun and put out the music they want because I think that with the main bands (Darkane and Soilwork) they had too much pressure on their shoulders and someone always said to them the way to follow.

However, Faster Disaster couldn’t match the sheer impact of the debut album and this last one takes more things from that debut in terms of aggression to support the now funnier lyrics. The perfect production exalts all the power by this band for impact and wall of sound. The tempo on the opener “Five Star Prison” is already very fast but the refrain is more melodic, especially on the vocals side. The riffs are fast and precise and also the drumming is more dynamic than on the previous album. Impossible to not notice some more modern touch in the vocals that sometimes they are influenced by the half-thrash/groove metal.

“Metal Mosh Massacre” features thrash metal influences in the riffs while once again the vocals have a groove timbre and they are a bit less screamed than in the past. The sound is truly compact and succeeds in creating a good mixture of sounds by the instruments. The band is heavily charged of brutality and speed. “Cheap Thrills” is one of the fastest outputs here and reminds me good times gone in thrash metal. The up tempo parts are relentless and Bjorn does a great job in it, screaming the impossible. Tracks like “King Kong Song” or “Wrath of the Cookie Monster” show different kinds of vocals and hilarious passages while the tempo is always so fast that sometimes reaches the blast beats too.

We can go on with “Satan’s Barbecue” and the fantastic “Liquor Saved Me From Sport” to understand really how much they mock the more serious and even satanic metal scene. The vocals are now more pissed off and some hilarious breaks are always present without interrupting the devastating music. The technique by these guys is astonishing and we already couldn’t doubt about it. In “Flesh Fever Fiesta” the influences in the riffage can be seen also in Tankard band while the vocals are just unbelievable for the various tones and cadences. Let’s hear for example the “lalalalalalala” vocals during the refrain of the blasting “Fed Up” and the high pitched ones in Rob Halford style on “Mummy Metal For The Masses”.

The intensity of this album is just blowing. At the end there are serious risks to have a headache because they take no prisoners. Everything is so violent and fast. The riffs are incredible and the recovering from the good but not awesome Faster Disaster has been accomplished. Now the band is back with the right burden of anger to destroy your stereo with lots of fast but funny tunes.