Terror - One With The Underdogs

Who:  Terror

What:  Second studio album released on Trustkill Records.

When:  July 2004

Where:  Los Angeles, CA

Why:   The record that launched these ex-Buried Alive and ex-Carry On members into the big time.

Back When:  I previously wrote about One With The Underdogs back in April 2009 when the album was a new release. Click here to read the original review.

[The Radness Average (or star rating) is derived from assigning each song a number of stars based on a 1-5 scale, then adding the total number of stars, and then dividing that number of total stars by the number of songs on the record. A Radness Average of 4.0 or higher indicates a good or great record. A Radness Average of 2.0 or less indicates pure crap. Everything else is in the middle somewhere.]

Terror - One With The Underdogs - Trustkill Records

1.  One with the Underdogs -- *****
2.  Keep Your Mouth Shut -- *****
3.  Less Than Zero -- ****
4.  Are We Alive -- *****
5.  Overcome -- *****
6.  Spit My Rage - *****
7.  No One Cares -- ****
8.  Not This Time -- *****
9.  Crushed -- ****
10.  Out of my Face -- *****
11.  All I've Got -- ****
12.  Find My Way -- *****
13.  Enemies in Sight -- *****


Radness Average:  4.692


Terror - One With The Underdogs


Verdict:  I hesitate to use the word "legendary" but this highly-regarded album has aged very well.

For fans of:  Hatebreed, Donnybrook, Grimlock, Ten Yard Fight, Ringworm




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Videodrome (I)

If it feels like the last week's worth of posts have all been "quick hits", it's because they have. Like I said yesterday, big things are cooking in the SRLCO Laboratory but the No Funeral train keeps on rolling. This marks the beginning of another new column titled Videodrome which is exactly what it sounds like. This is a collection of brutal, trill, and ignorant video clips with news and notes throw in the mix. Got a video that the world needs to see? Send is to nofuneralatx@gmail.com. Now, on with the show...

Two people got stabbed during Broken Hope's set in El Paso last night. The band is currently on tour with Deicide. Details of the attack have been sparse, although the members of Broken Hope reported that one of the victims had his throat cut with a boxcutter. You better believe that No Funeral will continue to follow this story. Below is Broken Hope's entire set from 5Oct13 in Delaware.



Now on to happier things, like one of the coolest music videos I've ever seen. Long-running straightedge band Down To Nothing got very creative with a small budget and came up with a winner. Check it out:



Speaking of cool, there's nothing particularly special about this next video (typical MTV fare) but, man, what a song! You should know this one already...



I wonder if Ol' Dirty Bastard still has coke in his shoe. You know? A send-off thing, kind of like GG Allin's funeral. Think about it.



Since we've already "got dirty" once, why stop now?



We kept it dirty. Now it's time to keep it real.



...really real.



How much reality can you take?



...annnnnd close with a little silliness.






See you next week.

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Terror – One with the Underdogs

Terror
One with the Underdogs
Trustkill



Terror was a band in both turmoil and transition during the creation of One with the Underdogs. The entire record was written and arranged by vocalist Scott Vogel, drummer Nick Jett and guitarist Todd Jones, with Jones leaving the band immediately after. After the unprecedented success of Lowest of the Low, with new members in tow and a new deal with the Trustkill label, Terror set out to conquer the hardcore world once again.

In large part, Terror succeeded. One with the Underdogs is filled with bouncy, groove-laden rhythms and tight, deadly riffs. The record’s metal influence isn’t overpowering, but it’s there. My only knock on the album is the rah-rah nature of the lyrics. Am I listening to a hardcore record or am I getting fired up about the district finals against Conroe High? I suppose the whole positive-youth vibe is an extension of hardcore’s love affair with sing-along choruses and chants. In that one, specific way, it makes One with the Underdogs sound typical. Then again, after taking in the album as a finished product and after considering that Terror made a slamming record, the rah-rah B.S. can be easily overlooked.





Terror - One With The Underdogs




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Terror – Lowest of the Low

Terror
Lowest of the Low
Trustkill



Terror is the West Coast hardcore band made up of East Coast hardcore weirdoes from Cleveland and Upstate New York. Terror’s masterpiece LP Lowest of the Low, featuring hardcore “superstar” Todd Jones (ex-Carry On), was originally released on Bridge 9 Records but I have the 2005 reissue from Trustkill Records. Upon its release in 2003, Lowest of the Low was a sensation in the hardcore scene. The record placed Terror at the front of the moshcore pack, where they’ve been ever since.

Trustkill’s version of Lowest of the Low is stuffed with bonus tracks. It has Terror’s side of the split EP with Ringworm and a cover version of Dag Nasty’s “Can I Say.” More importantly, the Lowest of the Low reissue contains an entire live set of Terror in Tokyo. From the sound of it, the show was insane that night. Plus, the live set is full of Vogel-isms. If you’ve never heard Terror before, imagine a less metal but way meaner version of Hatebreed. It’s cool stuff if you’re into that sort of thing.




Terror – Lowest of the Low




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Buried Alive - The Death of Your Perfect World

Buried Alive
The Death of Your Perfect World
Victory



Buried Alive, Scott Vogel's pre-Terror band, was one of Victory's late-90s, jock hardcore bands. They brought the mosh, yet there was more going on than just dance floor justice. There's more, but not enough to give The Death of Your Perfect World any sort of mandatory, much less classic, status.

The Death of Your Perfect World sounds like Buried Alive is striving for the heavy, violent hardcore of Starkweather and The Hope Conspiracy, but can't quite pull it off. It's a cool record but there's nothing here that other bands haven't done better. It's not as technical as Calculating Infinity (not even close), it's not as murderous as Give Them Rope and it doesn't beat people like Satisfaction is the Death of Desire.

In the past, I've seen message board posts theorizing why Buried Alive never "got big." This is a mystery? The Death of Your Perfect World is the definition of second-tier. Folks into the Earth Crisis/Hatebreed style will dig this record. Otherwise...



Buried Alive - The Death of Your Perfect World




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Terror – Always the Hard Way

Terror
Always the Hard Way
Trustkill



I’ve always liked Terror, Vogel-isms and all, but Always the Hard Way sounds awkward. This record was written and recorded after Terror’s second line-up purge and it sounds self-conscious, as if they feel the need to “live up” to the first two albums.

It’s strange because, on Always the Hard Way, Terror stuck with its past game plan. The band didn’t go metal or emo or anything like that. It should sound the same as the others, although moments of genius can be heard. “Smash Through You” is a punishing hardcore song in the mold of the 90s Cleveland bands. The title track and “Last of the Diehards” both sound like the Terror that we all know and love. The clunkers on this album, like “Dead End”, are clichéd-ridden and sound hastily written.

Don’t get me wrong, Always the Hard Way is a good album, but only half of it is killer. The other half sounds like rejected/undercooked tunes from the One with the Underdogs session. I realize that this is all hypothetical and that you can’t read someone’s mind, so I could be way off on this. It’s just my educated guess. That said, Always the Hard Way comes across like a band panicked by high expectations. While not their best material, at least Terror has enough conviction to not collapse under the pressure.




Terror – Always the Hard Way




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