Soilwork's vokillist (fuck, I just HAD to!) Björn "Speed" Strid (also plays bass on this one) and drummer Henry Ranta teamed up with Darkane's guitarist Klas Ideberg and a guitarist called Nick Sword (Niklas Svärd) in Terror 2000, who perform pure thrash metal with no tricks. They are heavily influenced by the late 1980's and early 1990's stuff, and there's no modern low-tuned, groovy or introspective tedium to be heard. The band formed in 1999,

The band cut it with razorblade precision. This is tight, and boy, this is also very fucking energetic! Points for these things, easily. The pace is usually neck-wrecking, but sometimes the band slow down for more heavy assault for some deep headbanging. There are good and even great riffs abound, but some of these few songs sound like "riff after riff" thinking. But hey, that's totally fine, because this burns. 'Burn Bitch Burn!' and 'Crypt of Decay' sound like well-composed stuff to my ears. One can expect sharp, aggressive riffs, but there's also some Swedish melodic crafting here and there on the guitar, and a couple of US style . Speed's vocals are brutal shrieky growling, but his pronunciation is not that good. He sounds like a cousin of Tomas Lindberg (ex-At The Gates, ex-The Crown etc...) on this one.

This cuts and this pounds. 'Slaughterhouse Supremacy' is like an amalgamation of Hypnos, The Crown and Defleshed: all-out ripping barrage of machine gun riffage and rhythms that hammer the skull of a listener for 100%. 32 minutes of unleash brutality and no looking back, no nonsense.

As this is a project, it certainly can be seen. The booklet has a photo of the band and thanks lists (and somewhat ugly computerised cover artwork), but no lyrics; remember Speed's bad pronunciation here... It makes the whole release feel a bit... A project-ish! Sound-wise this is not bad, not at all, but actually much the opposite, as 'Slaughterhouse Supremacy' sounds very metallic without forgetting the lower end. Not polished, but still very well balanced throughout, there's certainly no hardship to tell apart the instruments and vocals.

If Soilwork is too melodic and modern for you, Darkane too twisted and you hunger for some thrash metal frenzy, try Terror 2000. 'Slaughterhouse Supremacy' has some great songs, but generally it is "just" good. Nothing new, nothing truly special, even though Terror 2000 do not sound like a straight copy of any band. Hey thrashers, try Terror 2000, as they truly won me over on their side with this after some spins. Manic thrashing.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
09/17/2022 20:31