Time Signature Generation chaos...

Genre: death-grind

One of the most influential names on the grindcore and death metal scene(s), Terrorizer finally release their third album "Hordes of Zombies".

While both grindcore and death metal have evolved into a lot of different variants, Terrorizer have chosen to basically avoid incorporating anything the is remotely related to modern extreme metal. Opting for the expressionality of old school metal, Terrorizer punches you right in the face with "Hordes of Zombies".

With the combination of grindcore blastbeats and old school death metal one-string-at-the-time palm-muted tremolo picking, "Hordes of Zombies" captures a lot of the sheer brutality that was essential in early extreme metal. But this is not unvaried grinding all the way through, as strong riffs of various characters - but always aggressive - pop up side by wide with the grind passages.

The musicianship is characterized by determination and experience, and Katina Culture delivers some of the most clockwork precise rhythm guitars ever heard in the history of extreme metal, and her solos come across chaotic, but it is obvious that they are actually based on great skill.

I have read some reviews describing this album as bland, or even boring, but what I actually like about this album is the consistency and determination that emanates from it - and I also love how old school it is.

The gods of grind are back.

J-Man World Expectation Downfall

In every genre of there are a few almost entirely undisputed classic albums. In traditional heavy metal it's Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. In progressive rock it's Close to the Edge by Yes. The list goes on and on... But every now and again you'll stumble upon a "classic" that makes you scratch your head in complete bewilderment. World Downfall by Terrorizer is an album that made me do precisely that. Often considered a legendary and immortal classic, World Downfall has been a disappointment since the first time I've heard it. I bought this album not because I'm a huge fan of early grindcore, but more so because I am a pretty big Morbid Angel fan. Seeing that this album contains Pete Sandoval on drums and David Vincent on bass (both of Morbid Angel), it was only a matter of time before I snatched it up. What I found was not the masterpiece I'd heard so much about, but a sloppy, unprofessional, and noisy album graced my CD player instead. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.

From the very beginning, I want to advise everybody to NOT purchase this album for the same reason I did. If you are expecting something in the vein of Morbid Angel, you will be sorely disappointed. What we have here is not a well-thought out death metal album, but a raw and primitive early grindcore release. Expect something in the vein of early Napalm Death (another band I'm not a fan of), but with some more death metal influences mainly in the vocals. If you like early grindcore this should be right up your alley (and already in your collection), but I'm not sure that this will impress all death metal fans such as myself. This is simply too noisy, simple, and trivial for my tastes.

World Downfall is a 16-track, 36:13 album. As you can probably tell, the album itself is short, and the songs are short as well. I'm very happy about the former (if the album were much longer, I couldn't sit through it), but the songs have very little attention to detail and songwriting. It sounds to me like they were all written on the fly, without ever making any improvements or changes. None of the songs are distinguishable from each other, and by the end of the album all of the songs sound exactly the same. Don't expect much variation on World Downfall. I honestly can't recall any of the individual tracks after just hearing the album.

The musicianship is a mixed bag. Pete Sandoval's drumming is excellent as always, although he is much sloppier than usual. His usually intricate drum patterns are replaced by "let's play as fast as we can and hope it sounds good!" - a standpoint that usually bothers me. David Vincent's playing is basically inaudible, so we don't have to worry about that. Oscar Garcia's shouted vocals annoy me tremendously, and are really painful to listen to. Jesse Pintado's guitar playing is muddy and sloppy, but I guess that was kind of the intention of this album. He still does a very good job though, despite my lack of interest in Terrorizer's style.

The production is pretty poor IMO. For a 1989 grindcore album it could've been worse, but I'm still not too impressed. The sound is very muddy and just creates a big, often annoying, wall of sound. The production is very raw, with no attention to intricacies whatsoever. Not my cup of tea, to say the least.

Conclusion:

World Downfall is a legendary and groundbreaking extreme metal album, but my personal enjoyment level is very low. If you like grindcore, you probably already own this album, but as an outsider from the genre, there's very little for me to enjoy. I'm going to be generous and give a 2 star rating, but I honestly can't understand how this album even comes close to its current status.

UMUR World Downfall is the debut full-length studio album by American grindcore/ death metal act Terrorizer. The band features high prolific musicians who would all go on to fame in other extreme metal acts. Terrorizer was a very shortlived act ( active from 1987 - 1989). Bassist David Vincent and drummer Pete Sandoval would continue in Morbid Angel, guitarist Jesse Pointado became a member of Napalm Death and vocalist Oscar Garcia continued his career in Nausea. The album was released by Earache Records in November 1989. The actual recording of the album ( in 1989), which took place after the band had split-up in early 1988, took 8 hours including mixing. World Downfall is widely considered an early grindcore classic.

Those who come to World Downfall expecting something that sounds even remotely like Morbid Angel, because of the presence of two members from that band in the lineup, will be very disappointed. Those who come to World Downfall expecting something that sounds like early Napalm Death and Nausea, will on the other hand get exactly what they came for. The music on the album is old school grindcore which means that there are both blasting grindcore parts and mid-paced parts that are in some ways similar to early death metal. The songs are generally very short and effective as on most grindcore albums ( maybe just a bit longer than your usual under a minute grindcore attacks though). Don´t expect much sophistication or attention to detail, because the songs are very raw and simple. The fact that the album was recorded almost live gives the music a very raw and authentic feel, that I know many people think is great. For an album recorded in 1989 and especially for a grindcore release from those days the production is actually pretty good. Listening with today´s ears the production is flawed though and personally I miss what it is people find so powerful about the sound. I actually think it lacks a bit of punch. The songwriting isn´t very interesting either, and I can find a lot of other grindcore releases that works much better for me.

World Downfall is one of those cases where the classic status of the album overshadows the fact that the album is a bit mediocre. Just because an album was groundbreaking doesn´t mean it should automatically have God-like status IMO. Groundbreaking does not always equal great. I´ll play nice and give a 2.5 - 3 star rating, but honestly I´m not too impressed.