Hordes of Zombies

Brutal and fast, this full-length covers it all. With a female guitarist that whales on the riff-writing. She didn't appear on their newer release the 'Caustic Attack' which is unfortunate. The vocals are totally guttural and fit well with the music. They're definitely grind on here with death metal vocals. The riffs are dynamite and spellbinding. The music is what hits home with me. I've found the riffs not only fast, but catchy as well. They set the tone for the whole album. And Pete behind the set is right on target (as usual). They don't call him "Commando" without reason. He's way dynamite on here as well!

The sound quality was top notch on here as well. I'm surprised that they didn't get higher ratings on this one. It's a a lot like older Napalm Death of the 90's. The riffs sound a little like those of Napalm back then before they just turned to noise-core.

The music is what took it away for me. The songs are just fast and ferocious as well as noteworthy! I like the voice mixed with the guitar. They knew what they were doing in an approach to this record. They are without Jesse (RIP 2006) and Oscar who forgot all the lyrics so I've heard. I'm not sure if he does vocals for any metal bands anymore. I don't really have any complaints about this release. I'm just bummed that their status is "On Hold" meaning basically they're done. I'm giving the album a "B" and I said in my previous review of their newer release 'Caustic Attack' the same rating. Both are pretty much equally good.

If you're a fan of death/grind then this album is for you. It has all the elements and characteristics of what a death/grind release is supposed to sound like. And not discounting female guitarists she was really good and tight. Wish that she played on their follow-up!

After the terrible record return of Terrorizer, in the same year (i.e. 2006), unfortunately, Jesse Pintado died, and the band - this time under the 100% command of Pete Sandoval - decided to...reactivate 3 years later once again and hit with the next lp! So everything indicated again that this legendary group would have to be very bad, even more so than the last time. And the bigger surprise for me turned out to be "Hordes Of Zombies", because the new-old line-up from Terrorizer surprisingly managed to record a decent album. And with Anthony Rezhawk, who I definitely did not like on "Darker Days Ahead"!

One has to admit, however, that in contrast to the "Darker...", Rezhawk recorded much more intense and - most of all - "livelier" growls compared to previous album, while the other musicians accompanying Sandoval showed themselves from a slightly more interesting side as to death-grind standards. Guitarist Katina Culture brought more technique and death metal feeling (including solos), and the bass was refreshed by...David Vincent (in his case, he's glad that he appeared)! I won't go into detail about the pillar of the group, Commando (refer to a couple of other my reviews), but the drumming level was kept very high here as well.

Music. This one can boast of being quite brutal again, and at the same time not worse catchiness, of course, for the standards in which the group plays here. In terms of number of tracks, there were a lot of songs on "Hordes..." (including the intro as many as 15), but most of them were successful. Some seem to end prematurely and often do not go beyond one/two themes, but on the other hand, there is not so much that is bad on the album. With tracks like "Ignorance And Apathy", "Malevolent Ghosts", "Wretched", "Prospect Of Oblivion" or "Generation Chaos" you can hear power, commitment and riff ideas. On "Darker..." even with such seemingly simple things, the band had a problem.

Production also makes a good impression. This one was made - in contrast to its predecessor - to modern standards, but fortunately without excessive sterility or other newfangled tricks, but quite legible and with the "original" power (although I have to admit that the snare could be better). So the whole album is worth recommending. Considering the weak level of "Darker Days Ahead", moderately promising line-up and poor promotion, it could have turned out to be a monstrous disaster...

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2020/08/terrorizer-hordes-of-zombies-2013.html

Historically speaking, the death/grind outfit known as Terrorizer is quite significant. Not so much for any consistency in their studio output, which could be likened to a brief flash of genius by a delinquent child who couldn't keep his act together, but more because of the stylistic development that took place because of their iconic drummer Pete Sandoval (affectionately known as "Commando") and his connection with Morbid Angel. Anyone who is aware of the massive changes that took place in the death metal style due to his pioneering work and mastery of blast beats on "Altars Of Madness" will note the massive gap between the traditionalism of Death, Obituary, and a slew of older, thrash oriented prime-movers of the style, nay even the earlier work of Morbid Angel in "Abominations Of Desolation" before he came onto the scene. A similar story emerges for the present grindcore scene, which largely owes its chaotic nature to the same drummer, along with the now deceased guitarist of this outfit Jesse Pintado, who coined the genre's name and was a heavy factor in shaping the compositional quirks unique to it.

However, it is important to separate this band's historic significance with what it would end up becoming later on down the line, which is more akin to a conventional death metal band in the post-Morbid Angel sense, with occasional hints at the grindcore style inherent in the drumming style of Sandoval. Thus we come to "Hordes Of Zombies", which is by all standards the sort of album that Morbid Angel should have put out a year prior, minus Trey Azagthoth's wild, chaotic and, at times, atonal sounding flurries of notes. In the grand tradition of Slayer's "Reign In Blood", an album often associated with shaping the death metal sound, this is an album that largely plays off a straight-line bombardment approach with all the machine guns constantly firing. Respites from the endless slew of tremolo riffs and rumbling double-bass drum work are few, and largely culminate in fleeting breakdowns that hit like loud bomb blast and briefly silence the clatter of the smaller arms fire. The vocal input of Anthony Rezhawk is in line with the guttural wolf bark sound heard out of Chris Barnes and Dave Matrise of Jungle Rot, and further serves to bolster the militaristic character of this album.

Sadly, while the quality of each song is consistent and the execution is quite competent considering Sandoval's recent recovery from back surgery, song for song this doesn't quite seal the deal and ends up being an exercise in continually hitting the exact same territory. While much of Morbid Angel's early to middle era work was defined by a continual barrage of speed and fury, there was always a sense of variety and development to what was going on, not to mention a lot more sweetener from Azagthoth's fret board adventures to keep things interesting. Here the pictures is very similar to the solid yet largely one-dimensional character of the average Jungle Rot album, only loaded up with blast beats, about an average of 30 clicks faster, and maybe slightly heavier. It's gets a bit difficult to tell these songs apart at times, though a few such as "Subterfuge" and "State Of Mind" have fairly distinctive intro riffs that don't immediately resort of exaggerated Slayer worship with blurring drum gymnastics.

Far from being a bad album, "Hordes Of Zombies" will probably have a good deal of appeal to anyone who wants insanely fast yet largely non-technical death metal, ergo someone who wants a comprehensible version of what passes for grindcore these days. However, it doesn't meet the criterion for being essential, let alone iconic the way "World Downfall" was, though it caries the same overall picture of bare bones simplicity dressed up with a modern digital production. Much like a number of wildly hyped tech. death bands, this music tends to flow in one ear and then back out the other, and though it is pretty intense and exciting while its on, it misses the boat in terms of staying power. Old school death metal fans are encouraged to stick to Morbid Angel's catalog minus the latest album, whereas death/grind fans will want to go for either this band's debut or the early 90s output of Napalm Death, another importantly influential and well-known band associated with this one.

Terrorizer are easily one of the most revered grindcore/death metal bands in the history of metal, and all because of their tremendous and earth-shattering debut, “World Downfall”. They’re praised for this album the world over; and rightly so. It is perhaps one of the best of its kind, one of the most monumental and ahead of its time, and probably one of the greatest grindcore albums ever, even. In fact, the band had broken up prior to its release, and recorded the album after already having split up. In 2005, Jesse and Pete decided to come together and reform Terrorizer, releasing their second studio album, “Darker Days Ahead”, a year later. This album was a whopping disappointment for fans, and that same year, Jesse died of alleged diabetes. And now, six years later, Pete remains the only original member in the band, recruiting David Vincent for bass duties once again, “Hordes of Zombies” their third full-length to date. I’ll come right out and say it now to spare you the time: it’s a huge disappointment. It’s stale and boring, and it’s nowhere near the magnitude and prestige that “World Downfall” had achieved.

I will say that this album is overall an improvement on “Darker Days Ahead”. The guitars are mercifully fast and almost always tremolos, but apart from that, they don’t have anything good about them. The riffs are for the most part boring and bland. Apart from a few segments here and there where the guitars take the liberty of differentiating even a little from the rest of the album, for example at the ending of “Evolving Era,” where the guitars strum mellow notes, or “Subterfuge” with its fun intro riff, the whole album is pretty much a copy of its own self. There’s very few riffs that do anything different from the rest of the record, so the result is an unvaried 38-minute long song with very, very little to offer. In addition, most of the riffs play along to ridiculously predictable and familiar note progressions, ones that have been heard at least a million times before. Yes, this is a grindcore album, where a lack of variation is to be expected, but if the riffs had been at least all similar but something completely different than what is heard on your typical grindcore album, they would’ve been much more enjoyable and tolerable. That is not the case, however, as here they have pulled a double whammy, where the riffs are both extremely similar to themselves and extremely similar to riffs that have been heard millions of times before.

The most interesting part of the album is by far the drumming. Pete Sandoval has still got it, his back is now perfectly stable, and he flaunts his ability on this record. He still keeps in touch with what he did on “World Downfall”, frantic thrash beats sharing the stage with manic blast beats and concise, chaotic yet controlled drum fills. He alone is the sole good aspect of new Terrorizer, but unfortunately his fantastic drumming is not enough to redeem the album as a whole. His double bass abilities are still mind-blowing, and he shows this often throughout. He keeps up the pace at a blindingly fast tempo throughout the entire album, the guitars always on par with him, but the guitars are honestly far less interesting than the drumming. Granted, Pete Sandoval has always been considered one of the drummer gods in the metal scene, whether they see him in his main band Morbid Angel or side projects like this one, but he is still arguably as good as he was back in the day… and it works to Terrorizer’s advantage. But I digress.

Another facet that “Hordes of Zombies” suffers from is the vocals. On “World Downfall”, they had an aggressive edge to them, were far more diverse, and offered a more interesting value than the current vocalist, Anthony Rezhawk. He always keeps the vocals at about the same tone, very rarely going a little higher or lower, usually doing so in correlation with the guitars. They’re stale and uninteresting to say the least, low death growls with no real substance to them. “Darker Days Ahead” had also suffered from this same problem, and fortunately the vocals are now mixed at a more tolerable level. Admittedly, they have improved somewhat since its predecessor, but are still nothing to call home about. After about the fourth or fifth song Anthony’s vocals become almost a given, but not in a good way. Occasionally I felt my mind wandering off in boredom as his vocals continued along the same tone and mundane deliverance, and more often than not I found myself ignoring them altogether.

In conclusion, “Hordes of Zombies” is indeed a new effort by the band. At least it’s an effort, but alas, it is not one worth receiving praise. It is certainly an improvement on the abysmal “Darker Days Ahead”, but it remains miles behind what “World Downfall” had to offer, and my guess is Terrorizer will never match that album’s magnitude. I have probably compared this album too much to “World Downfall”, which is an unfair assessment; but even if considering “Hordes of Zombies” a standalone record, it really doesn’t offer anything special either. Perhaps there will be some people that will find good in this, but after having listened to it several times, I can conclusively say that this is a genuinely bad album. While there are some riffs, albeit very, very scarcely, that are more interesting than others, there are many more riffs that are completely dull and have nothing special that they hold to themselves. The whole album contains riffs of persistent boredom and they‘re all pretty much the same. I couldn’t even find it in me to even headbang, hardly at all throughout the entire record. Sorry, Terrorizer. Maybe next time.

-SmithMetal84
http://ravenousreviewswebzine.blogspot.com/

Terrorizer were once known as the premier death metal/grindcore group in the United States (even though had already broken up) after they had posthumously released the legendary LP “World Downfall” in 1989. Little did they know that album would influence death metal and grindcore for decades to come. Then in 2005, Pete and Jesse decided to give Terrorizer another shot, and they released their comeback album “Darker Days Ahead” in 2006. There was a lot of criticism of that album since it wasn’t anything close to “World Downfall,” but not only that, it was just very flat and boring death metal/grindcore, and that’s putting it nicely. Unfortunately, Jesse Pintado had succumbed to his fight with diabetes in 2006, and Terrorizer bit the dust again. But, the corpse of Terrorizer rises once more, this time with Pete being the sole survivor of the band. Anthony Rezhawk has come back to perform his vocal duties, and Pete employed David Vincent to come back on bass and got Katina Culture to be the replacement for the now deceased Jesse Pintado. Now with a full line-up again, Terrorizer tries to restore its legacy with a new offering, “Hordes Of Zombies.” After two reformations, does Pete “Commando” Sandoval and Co. have what it takes to win back the hearts of disenfranchised fans?

After an ambient introduction that wastes almost two minutes of your time, you are dumped straight into the title-track, ‘Hordes Of Zombies.’ You can immediately tell that Terrorizer tried to conjure a more straight-forward style that harkens back to “World Downfall” rather than “Darker Days Ahead.” So far everything just feels tighter than it was on “Darker Days Ahead.” And faster. Much faster.

Katina Culture shows herself to be a worthy successor to that of Jesse Pintado’s signature Terrorizer sound. A lot of her riffs, while fast and sometimes spastic, feel very vicious and well-structured (particularly on ‘Ignorance And Apathy’). She definitely has some chops, and with this being my first introduction to her (even though she is also a part of the punk rock group Resistant Culture) I am thoroughly happy with the performance she has been dolling out. There’s even a good bit of Mitch Harris (Napalm Death) influence that can be heard in some of the later songs, such as ‘Malevolent Ghosts,’ ‘Flesh To Dust,’ and ‘State Of Mind,’ just to name a few. Pete “Commando” Sandoval’s drumming is, well, Pete “Commando” Sandoval. I don’t know how to put it anymore than that, especially on a Terrorizer record. He has the mid-paced drum beats, and then there’s the full-speed ahead double bass and blastbeat-oriented grindcore that we love, with maybe an drum break interlude every once in a while.

One of the main problems with “Darker Days Ahead” was that Anthony Rezhawk’s vocals were atrociously loud in the mix, and with the lack of range he has it made his vocals ridiculously one-dimensional. While he still retains the same style on “Hordes Of Zombies,” he is integrated much more evenly with the music, and makes his presence to be not great, but much better than what the hell went on with their last album. Unfortunately for him, the vocals are still pretty one-dimensional with the same vocal cadences being used repeatedly, but let’s face it, Terrorizer has always been strictly looked at as a guitar-and-drum driven band. They could have made this album completely instrumental and I really don’t think the dynamic would have changed that much, and I think the same goes for David Vincent. You can hear little bits of the mid-and-high ranges of his bass, but again, “Hordes Of Zombies” seems to be a showcase for Pete and Katina to show their stuff, with Anthony and David just merely being brought along for the ride.

Even though there are only those two speeds to Terrorizer, some of the songs on “Hordes Of Zombies” seem to just kind of run together in the middle, with my attention span sometimes waning and unable to process when one song ends and the other begins. Sure, this is a death metal/grindcore album, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little bit of variation in the music. Tracks like ‘Evolving Era,’ ‘Ignorance And Apathy,’ ‘Radiation Syndrome,’ and ‘Forward To Annihilation’ do a good enough job at showing that this incarnation of Terrorizer are a little more than just a one-trick grindcore pony, but I can certainly see that not being enough for some listeners.

After multiple sessions of going through “Hordes Of Zombies” a couple of thoughts had occurred to me. So far we are only about two months into 2012 and there has already been a large amount of excellent releases in the realms of death metal and grindcore, and maybe I am a little bit spoiled by it. The other thought was that this has to be better than “Darker Days Ahead” was, so my expectations weren’t exactly too high for this Terrorizer record. But, I must admit that there were some moments in “Hordes Of Zombies” where I was pleasantly surprised with what was thrown at me, and others where I found myself nodding off or feeling as if this is just “another Terrorizer song.” “Hordes Of Zombies” is by no means a must-have death metal/grindcore album, but after how stunningly bad “Darker Days Ahead” was this is a major step-up for the band and is at least worth checking out if you have a morbid curiosity to see how Terrorizer has come back from the ashes. Just do yourselves a favor and don’t get your hopes up for a return-to-form in the vein of “World Downfall,” because at this point that will never happen.

Originally written for Metal Blast (http://www.metalblast.net/).