Terror - Live June 10, 2004 CD review

Lead "terrorizer" Scott Vogel – he of the asbestos lungs and fresh asphalt vocals – used to bang around Buffalo and WNY with musical gangs like Despair and Buried Alive before making the hyper-speed jump to the west coast. In L.A. Vogel put together the hardcore outfit Terror, the band subsequently going the '80s-underground route and circulating a four-song demo tape that got them a lot of props but little in the way of fame and fortune. A nine-song sonic boom of an album titled Lowest Of The Low was released in 2003; the band signed with Trustkill Records to release 2004's One With The Underdogs, a longer…albeit not an iota slower-paced…13-song collection of stunning ferocity.

Of course, hardcore's pissed off attitude, lack of constraint and ear-shredding fury translates better from the stage to an audience, and Terror is a prime example of this. While the band's albums have been brain-blistering exercises in musical firestarting, Live June 10, 2004 – part of the CBGB OMFUG Masters "Bowery Collection" featuring performances from the legendary club – shows Terror to be masters of mosh, cranking out music as bleak as a dark alleyway at midnight and as brutal as being on the short end of a midget chain-whipping.

Most of the eleven songs captured on tape for Live June 10, 2004 are taken from Lowest Of The Low, recreating almost the entire EP/album in a 30-minute, liver-shaking blur. For those metal fans that prefer bone-crunching 'core that'll rattle yer teeth and make you cry "mommy" in your sleep, Terror delivers in spades. Vogel's raw, guttural vox sound like a werewolf's mating cries, while energetic, scalpel-sharp six-strings dissect songs like "I Don't Need Your Help" or "Life And Death," cutting straight to the bone to get to the meat of the song. Rhythm is the engine that drives this beast, each song boasting of big, headknocking drumbeats and roaring basslines that shake, rattle and roll like a jet's turbines.

Terror's music isn't for everybody, Terror live even less so – these songs are smelly, hairy-fisted, knuckle-dragging, guitar-driven, beat-bruising, take-no-fuckin'-prisoners tunes that appeal only to committed hardcore fans…or those that should be committed, take your pick. If this stuff sounds like your cup of high-octane hemlock, then by all means, terrorize yourself today…. (CBGB Masters / MVD Audio)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Live June 10, 2004 from Amazon.com)