Terminal Nation- Echoes of the Devil’s Den
Terminal Nation- Echoes of the Devil’s Den
20 Buck Spin
Release Date: 03/05/2024
Running Time: 40:15
Review by Rory Bentley
9/10
I’ve done a fair old whack of Progressive and technical music lately, which has been a nice change but it’s time to get back to some angry Hardcore-tinged extremity. Who better to provide it than the raging juggernaut of filth that is Terminal Nation who are back with an absolute ass-beater in “Echoes of the Devil’s Den”. As someone who considers themselves in the ‘woke’ contingent I like a band that shares my ethos that wanting social justice doesn’t go hand in hand with flat whites and ukeleles, it should be angry, it should be abrasive and the riffs should be fucking disgusting.
Although Hardcore is the fulcrum of the band’s sound and ethos, the album touches on multiple extreme sub genres, often in the same song. The title track spans crushing Death Doom, warpspeed Crust Punk and savage Hardcore over 4 bile-filled minutes, even finding time to chuck in some ominous, dramatic synths. It’s a cracking start and sets the pace for the rest of these 12 audio pipe bombs- that pace being relentless and pissed off as all hell.
Who better to lend a helping hand in keeping these indignant fires burning than Nails founder and all round angry man Todd Jones on the molten savagery of ‘Written By The Victor’ which combines tar-black sludgy riffs the size of Godzilla’s bollocks with the boiling vitriolic mantra of “If history is written by the victor, then when facing defeat, make no mistake I will sever every tongue, cut off every hand, your legacy it dies with me!”. It makes me want to yeet myself into another dimension and it’s not even the nastiest thing on here.
That accolade perhaps goes to the scabrous ‘No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)’ which makes ‘Fuck Tha Police’ sound like a blue lives matter anthem, with imperious vocalist Stan Liszewski roaring “Fuck every cop that’s ever fucking lived” over and over while the band cave your dome in with a beatdown that could remove tattoos. Liszewski is phenomenal throughout the record and his performance on the mic- which is frankly demented, sells the shit out of these songs and ramps up the devastating intensity of the likes of ‘Empire In Decay’ to terrifying new heights.
Just when I couldn’t be any more in love with this sick filth, my main man Jesse Leach lends his mighty pipes to the more grandiose but no less nasty ‘Merchants of Bloodshed’ in a spine tingling moment of melody that draws just as much blood as the more blunt-force assaults of previous tracks. Short of getting the 2015/16 title-winning Leicester City team doing gang vocals, I don’t know how these guys could appeal to me any more. By the time ‘Release the Serpents’ featuring Integrity’s Dwid Hellion has stomped my face in and made me feel like that big Balrog-looking lad on the album cover has rocked up in a pair of Docs to two-step us into the apocalypse, I find myself in a state of post coital bliss. I’m arse over tit for this one mates.
Terminal Nation have turned in a work that delivers a message of empowerment, civil disobedience and social justice with a big fucking fist right to the mush. Catch yourself on and get this boiling cauldron of molten brutality down your lugholes, unless your a cop. Then you can fucked, bruv.
‘Terminal Nation’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Echoes of the Devil’s Den
02. Written by the Victor
03. The Spikes Under the Bridge
04. No Reform (New Age Slave Patrol)
05. Empire in Decay
06. Embers of Humanity
07. Merchants of Bloodshed
08. Bullet for a Stone
09. Dying Alive
10. Cemetery of Imposters
11. Immolation (Of Mother Earth)
12. Release the Serpents
LINE-UP:
Chase Turner- Bass/Vocals
Chase Davis- Drums
Dalton Rail- Guitars
Tommy Robinson (not that one!)- Guitars
Stan Liszewski- Vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
