After establishing themselves in the metal underground with their stellar debut album “Fear of Tomorrow,” Artillery definitely needed to hit their sophomore record out of the park to even match the preceding record’s success. “Terror Squad” is that second album and despite its godawful album art it accomplishes a few new things for the band, and unfortunately fails to accomplish others, which ended up making the album a notch below the debut. Luckily, this 8-song collection is still strong and saw Artillery treading some new ground and adding some more “weapons” to their musical arsenal.
One noticeable addition to the sound that was established on “Fear of Tomorrow” was the added variety in riffs. Not a single riff on “Terror Squad” sounds alike, as the structures aren’t just a mix of fast or midpaced riffs and some very well placed power chords. Stutzer’s fingers are flying all around the fretboard for these songs and it’s noticeable on tracks like “The Challenge” and “Hunger and Greed,” both of which feature riffs that could rival acts like Forbidden and Coroner. Of course these Danes could still thrash like maniacs, most noticeably on songs like “Terror Squad” and “At War With Science,” which are violent enough to incite a riot, while the latter also showed some technicality that would later become even more significant in the band's sound.
Another highlight on this album is the awesome performance by Flemming Ronsdorf, who once again took the entire band to the next level. His gift for hitting incredible highs, vicious growls and beautiful, clean notes is unparalleled in the thrash subgenre. Morten Stutzer also shined with his bass playing, delivering fill after fill, and even being heavier than the riffs at points. The drumming wasn’t amazing, but it was solid and the drummer got what needed to be done to make these songs thrash. I don't see anyone who enjoyed "Fear of Tomorrow" not liking this album. Artillery definitely made an awesome sophomore record with “Terror Squad,” and while not quite good as the predecessor, it’s still very memorable in its own right.
Highlights
“Terror Squad”
“At War With Science”
“Decapitation of Deviants”
Final Rating
Awesome [8.4/10]
