Review: An anthropologist considering grindcore as the resurrection of hardcore from its decay into moral orthodoxy polarized through novelty will trace the emergence of absolutism in rhythm in death-of-hardcore grinding music, and conclude, of the two major paths, percussive grind like Carcass or Napalm Death and structuralist ripping grind like Repulsion or Terrorizer, that the second form took its rigid geometrical projection from the apocalyptic sense of superpower entrenchment and paranoia inverted against an external enemy in the form of aggressive, heuristic free-narrative ambient grindcore. Deconstructively empowered this music attacks with warlike rhythm and a stream of structures like scrolling computer code that assemble a vision of terror and paranoia in three layers or fewer.
Tracklist:
1. After world Obliteration (3:28)
2. Storm of Stress (1:28)
3. Fear of Napalm (3:02)
4. Human Prey (2:08)
5. Corporation Pull-In (2:22)
6. Strategic Warheads (1:38)
7. Condemned System (1:22)
8. Resurrection (2:59)
9. Enslaved by Propaganda (2:14)
10. Need to Live (1:17)
11. Ripped to Shreds (2:52)
12. Injustice (1:29)
13. Whirlwind Struggle (2:16)
14. Infestation (1:56)
15. Dead Shall Rise (3:05)
16. World Downfall (2:44)
Length: 36:13
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Copyright © 1989 Earache
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Most who enjoy this work however will suggest it is the uniqueness and context-significant shaping of the riffs alone, from the one chord rhythm or open string interplay to the chromatic motion patterns spun in tremelo rhythm at high speed, that founds this music in the legendary history of grindcore but it is vital to remember these rhythms and tones spawned as variants from each incarnation put together a direct and fragmentary meme to each song which constructs in the listener's mind a wave of certain motion, not unlike the dogmatic but insistent topics of universal human experience ("Fear of Napalm": "nowhere else/left to hide/people screaming/burn to ash/fear of dying/guess who lost") which adorn the music in rigid gutpuking alternating with pure timbre in organic guttural shrieks indecipherable to language.
Enlightened in its sense of motion, direct in its communication to the listener, and while sparse in its construction expressive in recombinations of a handful of elements, expressing the basic structure of grindcore as micro-meme transmission through the energy of motion and darkly nihilistic chromatic tone, the songwriting on this album reflects an offhand zenlike response to stimulus through conditioning of layers of thought clarifying the perceptive interpretative process. Fluid in motion and in counterpoint-response networking advanced enough in technique to have an intuitive internal language, the compositional voice of these short pieces articulates through reflections of integration and decomposition within artificial structures conforming to natural shapes of directional change.
Rhythmic shifts, when tempo alters for a breakbeat of blast or oppositional interjection to structures, express fundamental structure in these often two-riff songs whose rarer alterations take great significance in their precise counterpoint to dominant riffs. Crucial for its time and now in expressing the development of this completely alienated genre, the music of Terrorizer is rigorous yet artistic expression aimed at rewarding both body and mind of the listener.