TERRIFIANT "Terrifiant"

TERRIFIANT

“Terrifiant”

TERRIFIANT is the latest in an increasingly long line  of “throwback” bands trying to recapture the rough magic of the early 80’s underground metal scene. It’s getting to be a very crowded room. What’s going to hold these guys back is a silly vocalist who sounds like somebody dipped his nuts in extra strong ICYHOT. This is a great example of a band derailed by a whacked frontman.

To be sure, there were quite a few old speed metal bands that had vocalists with super high and nasal vocals...MERCYFUL FATE and AGENT STEEL being the two most obvious.  And to this day, there are certain parts of songs by those bands I find hard to take, but I was able to adapt to their singers because they showed some nuance. Lord Terrifiant, the singer here, has a squeak-toy voice that comes across flat and just plain annoying. There are a few growls and more “normal” vocals, but the squeals are overwhelming and get old fast.

It’s too bad, because otherwise TERRIFIANT makes a pretty good stab at old speed metal. There’s plenty of wild soloing courtesy of the guitarists…wait for it...ZZ Slop and Slime Vivaldi and songs like “Speedline” and “Iron Mountain” have got some strong riffs. But even so, this approach is no longer all that novel and even if Lord Terrifiant knew what he was doing, this would be fun, but far from great. An ill-advised cover of PAT BENATAR’s “Heartbreaker” emphasizes the vocal problem and ends things on a sour note.

No need to spend any more time here…

GATES OF HELL

TERRIFIANT