TERRIFIER
“Trample The Weak, Devour The Dead”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Terrifier are a thrash metal band from Canada originally forming in 2003 as Skull Hammer, changing their name to Terrifier in 2012 and releasing their debut album ‘Destroyers Of The Faith’ later the same year. The band released the three song E.P. ‘Metal Or Death’ the following year, with sophomore album ‘Weapons Of Thrash Destruction’ emerging in 2017 – featuring some of highest velocity thrash metal this side of fellow countrymen Annihilator and Exciter. And now, six years later, Terrifier are back, and armed with eight brand new songs. The Canadian thrashers are set to scorch the earth and wreck necks with another relentless barrage of high speed thrash – the bands third album ‘Trample The Weak, Devour The Dead’ (released in 2023), a ferocious forty minute onslaught!

Exploding into life, Terrifier are immediately in full flight, ‘Trial By Combat’ a blistering barrage of savagery. The speed, aggression and menace are all operating at sky high levels, ‘Trial By Combat’ breaking the sound barrier with absolute ease. Yet the band, incredibly, weave an element of the melodic into everything they do – just like bands such as Testament, Flotsam And Jetsam, and the aforementioned Annihilator. What a breath taking opening salvo from one of my more recent favourite thrash metal bands – regular readers will know I go all the way back to the glorious eighties with over forty years of listening to metal, in all its shapes and guises. Terrifier came onto my radar almost a decade ago – and never left! The bands thrash metal onslaught is terrific – the new album marching on with the speedy ‘Perpetual Onslaught’, hitting very hard, devastating the land to leave only desolation in its wake. I really hope your neck muscles are warmed up and extremely flexible, for ‘Perpetual Onslaught’ is much quicker than the speed of light!

The opening double has been breathless, Terrifier resuming their legacy of delivering fast, furious and frenetic thrash metal. And no way does it seem like six years since I was blown away by the bands second album ‘Weapons Of Thrash Destruction’ – sure it wasn’t just yesterday? But believe me, the six year wait has definitely been worth it, the band in absolutely ferocious mood, laying waste to everything and everyone, powering on with ‘Bones Of The Slain’ – carrying enough aggression and pace to break bones and smash skulls! The speed of ‘Bones Of The Slain’ is phenomenal, hitting the sweet spot with immense force and one hundred percent accuracy! Every time! And without pausing for breath, ‘Trample The Weak, Devour The Dead’ rampages on with ‘Depths Of The Storm Scepter’ – the levels of aggression and speed much higher than earlier. Terrifier are truly an incredible force of nature, wreaking havoc and destruction wherever they may roam! And roaming around the genre of thrash metal is where the band call home, standing tall and very proud, hurtling on with ‘Grinding The Blade’. And with speed and aggression causing jaws to drop, knees to buckle and other parts of the body to drool, Terrifier slaughter the senses with rugged enthusiasm! The band are at their most terrifying here, violently hammering the ground with more force than a thousand jack hammers.

Not to mention Terrifier oozing more force than a hundred wrecking balls in full flight – the album storming on with ‘Death And Decay’. I’m beginning to run out of derivatives of aggression, speed, devastation and destruction to describe what is going on here! So I’ll just have to start repeating myself now – ‘Death And Decay’ a destructive tirade of ferocity! The bands savage barrage of thrash is unrelenting, with every metalheads senses taking a massive battering. Boy will there be bruises in the morning, along with very sore necks from all the vigorous head banging – so make sure you have a neck brace to hand! Just in case! And with just two songs remaining, Terrifier don’t take their foot off the gas, keeping the pedal firmly pressed to the metal for ‘Dawn Of The Slaughter’ – incredibly, the fastest song heard so far! Everything heard up to this point has been fast, but fuck me ‘Dawn Of The Slaughter’ is even faster! The band have no limits with regards to speed! Or aggression! Or even menace! And with the final song just around the corner – a reminder that the replay button was invented for albums just like this – ‘Awaiting Desecration’ emanating a heavier heaviness than any other song on offer! And at a slower pace too, for the first two minutes anyway, the band changing through the gears to restore pace and power.

Overall, a barrage of searing thrash metal, fuelled by aggression and speed, ‘Trample The Weak, Devour The Dead’ is simply a breath taking album.

TRACKLIST

Trial By Combat
Perpetual Onslaught
Bones Of The Slain
Depths Of The Storm Scepter
Grinding The Blade
Death And Decay
Dawn Of The Slaughter
Awaiting Desecration

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