TERRORIZER - Hordes of Zombies CD review

TERRORIZER - Hordes of Zombies CD

Season of Mist

Genre: Death Metal

This was another one of those "most anticipated albums of 2012" although I believe the anticipation was more about whether or not it was gonna suck. Now I'm not gonna get into the fuckin official history of TERRORIZER. If you're reading SFM666 then you know it but if you don't then go look it up yourself. I'll just point out that if you're an extreme type then you remember their 2006 comeback flop, Darker Days Ahead. The irony of that was guitarist Jesse Pintado had lost his fight with diabetes and died shortly after that album's release. So from a logical standpoint the band should have been laid to rest with Jesse.

Well somebody decided not to (?) so enter TERRORIZER 2012 featuring the only original member Pete Sandoval on drums, David Vincent on bass (who was actually a session bassist who simply assisted on the recording of 1989's World Downfall because the original one was in jail), Anthony Rezhawk (who sang on Darker Days Ahead) returns on vocals and filling in on guitar is Katina Culture who also plays with the punk band RESIDENT CULTURE. I'm not gonna use the word replacement because you can't replace Jesse Pintado. Personally it would be better to look at this not as TERRORIZER but considering the people involved and they did re-use the name I've got no choice.

Without going into every freakin detail about this album lets just keep with the basics (don't wanna do any editorializing now). First off Hordes of Zombies is a better album than their last comeback. It's also faster which you could chalk up to Sandoval feeling a whole helluva lot better. Also credit goes out to Katina Culture who does a damm good job creating some sick and vicious riffs on here. Jesse Pintado would definitely approve since she keeps within the band's original sound and fury. As far as Vincent goes who cares you can't really hear him. I really didn't care for Rezhawk's vocals on the last album. Six years later he's still soulless most of the time sounding like a zombie singing. It's only when he shuts the fuck up that you can enjoy the music on here.

Now with that said and the talents of Culture and Sandoval dearly noted, this album is fairly average. I'd say a third of Hordes of Zombies is pretty good. Songs like the title cut, (but not the opening intro cause that blew) "Ignorance And Apathy", "Broken Mirrors" and "Forward To Annihilation" all have that some what exciting TERRORIZER feel of old. As far as the rest of this album is concerned it's all filler. The material blends so close together that I don't know why they even bothered to stop in between songs. They could've put two or even three cuts together and shorted the song list. The only thing good that could come out of this is if Katina Culture gets another gig with a band that would allow her to show more of herself instead of following a legend. Also as far as this band's legendary status goes, get the first demos and World Downfall will take a backseat.

RATING 2/5

Label: http://www.season-of-mist.com/

Official: http://www.terrorizergrindcore.net/