Terror 2000 - Terror For Sale
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Five Star Prison* |
| Genre | Thrash Metal |
Björn Strid
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 12 |
Klas Ideberg
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 40Min. |
Nick Sword
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Guitar
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| Label | Scarlet Records |
Dan Svensson
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Bass
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| Release | 10 Oct. 2005 |
Erik Thyselius
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Drums
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| Country | Sweden |
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Keyboards
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| Similar artists | Darkane, Construcdead, Soilwork | ||
2005 has been a great year for Swedish metal. Some of the best efforts have been made by Soilwork, Darkane and Construcdead, three bands that share a common interest - Terror 2000. The band, formed by key-members from these acts, released Slaughterhouse Supremacy five years ago and Faster Disaster two years later, but then… nothing. Until now. It's perfectly understandable that many of us feared that Terror 2000 would be buried forever, given all the success the vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid has enjoyed with Soilwork. Luckily, these guys seem to have an endless source of creativity, and with Terror For Sale they have unleashed a lean and mean metal-machine.
When listening to this album, it's best to have the lyrics-sheet at hand. Terror 2000's motto seems to be that nothing is too weird to write about, and that all metal-clichés should be made fun of. In the standout-track of the album, "King Kong Song", Speed tells the story of a wannabe-rock star who struggles with everyday-problems, while playing ping-pong and trying to write a song as heavy as King Kong. This is a risky concept that might have fallen flat, if it weren't for Speed's wide spectra of singing styles, containing everything from harsh vocals to Rob Halford-screams. Terror For Sale is as much a joy to listen to as it is to read the lyrics, something you don't experience everyday.
So, how does the music sound? Well, although the track "Liquor Saved Me From Sports" definitely has a strong Darkane-feeling to it, the rest of the material really does sound like a hybrid of the three aforementioned constellations. With a big dose of humour to go with it, of course. But when not singing about giant apes or fighting with old ladies in the grocery-store, Terror 2000 also tries to get a serious message through amid all the fun. "Five Star Prison", for example. Anyone familiar with System Of A Down will recall the opening track from the Toxicity-album, which was about the overpopulated prisons in America. Terror 2000's version is about how wrong the Swedish prison system is, and it's just as good.
All music-fans will have a blast reading the lyrics, as it contains sly references to other bands (for example, the title "Mummy Metal For The Masses" is a clear homage to Depeche Mode's album Music For The Masses). But if you don't speak Swedish, "Stattena T(h)rash" will be difficult to follow, as Speed sings in his native language! It has a somewhat sad message to it, revolving around the state of his hometown Helsingborg and the fact that the local soccer-team always looses in the end.
Rounding off things is "Bloody Blues Blaster", a two minute-piece where Speed's wife Nanami provides a spoken word-dialogue together with something sounding like a fusion between jazz and metal. Towards the end Donald Duck makes a guest appearance. By now it's probably understood that Terror 2000 never compromise, and that Terror For Sale is a work of genius. The only thing that's lacking at the moment is a tour! This album definitely deserves one.
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Production
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Vocals
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Compositions
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9 |
10 |
9 |
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Summary
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9 chalices of 10 - Niklas |
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