The offer here is straightforward: relentless thrash metal. The Canadians are now releasing their 3rd album in their 11 years of existence, add another 10 in their previous guise as Skull Hammer.

The race is on. It’s hard, fast, unyielding and heavy of course. Forward is the only gear. The riff repeats itself, the vocalist trots out familiar diction and is supported by a hardcore gang style chorus. It’s about fighting. There’s a flamboyant guitar solo, and we’re back to the pumping riff. I’m out of breath already. That was “Trial by Combat”. I didn’t expect much to be different as Terrifier don’t seem to be a band of multiple dimensions. “Perpetual Onslaught” lives up to its name and is more banging and crashing and fast riffage as we are exhorted to “fight for the masses”. And there was me thinking that their home city of Vancouver BC was a genteel sort of place. The obligatory solo cuts in. The guitar work is actually more technical than I might be suggesting. As I was having this thought, it ends. Away we charge again, the drums putting out a million to the dozen. I’m now hearing about the wicked ways of the west. The style’s the same of course and there’s the statutory solo, but with the prolonged scream and dark spoken vocal “Bones of the Slain” has a bit of added venom. More walls come tumbling down on “Depths of the Storm Scepter”. “Run for your life …. Nothing will save you, there’s nowhere to go”. The eye of the storm comes into it – I was on cliché watch now. The lyrics are a bit hackneyed but it’s all part of the energy, of which they’re plenty. The melody helps it along without doubt and the musicianship is as solid as rock. It’s strange then that “Depths of the Storm Scepter” dies a wimpy death, fading out mid-riff.

Did I hear a little Mediterranean-style guitar? I did but it’s just an intro before we get back to the hard thrashing business of “Grinding the Blade”. Such is the speed that several blades can be ground. The vocalist exudes anger. The instruments radiate power and energy. The ingredients are familiar. This time it ends with a breath-taking solo. You want extra aggression with your speed thrash, sir? Well “Death and Decay” brings that. We’re racing towards the finish line. The guitar work is as usual of the highest order. Terrifier allow themselves to exploit that skill with a constantly moving tableau on this song. It’s far from the end as we have two further breakneck songs to enjoy. The first of them is “Dawn of the Slaughter”. If ever there was a thrash song dedicated to slaughter, this is it. The image I took from this music is of a chaotic whirlwind and flesh flying. It’s relentless. What I enjoyed the most and appreciated throughout the album was the technical dexterity of the guitar-playing. A slightly more epic build-up, noteworthy for its general absence so far, marks the start of “Awaiting Desecration”, the final song. Slightly deeper in tone, the song is no less penetrating than its predecessors. “The end is coming here”, promises the vocalist. After developing into a solo and one final blast, it finally came after 39 minutes of intense energy.

This album leaves nothing to spare and transmits the excitement of a live concert, where I’m sure Terrifier would be terrific. It’s all laid out on the table here. “Trample the Weak, Devour the Dead” isn’t ground breaking in any way but its rampant thrash urgency, tons of melody, and its energy and intricate musicianship all combine to make it into a most enjoyable album to listen to.

(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/TerrifierThrashers

https://empirerecords.bandcamp.com/album/terrifier-trample-the-weak-devour-the-dead