Terminalist

The Great Acceleration

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Genre: Thrash Metal, Extreme Metal.
Released: 07/05/2021
Via Indisciplinarian

Album Review: Terminalist – The Great Acceleration

Have you ever wondered what Trash metal infused with black metal, death metal and prog would sound like? Well, wonder no more as Terminalist are here with that exact concept which they have dubbed Hyperthrash! The Danish-American band are set to release their debut album ‘The Great Acceleration’ and I just had to know what this crazy combination of genres would sound like! Here is my review of Terminalist’s ‘The Great Acceleration’.

The opening song titled ‘Relentless Alterartion’ definitely hits the criteria of what was promised however the mixing of the track seems off by quite a bit. The levels of the drums seem very odd with parts of the kit coming across as way too loud compared to the rest. Underneath the levelling issues, the song contains some awesome riffs and if a big fan of the black metal guitar tone mixed with the thrash metal style of progression. Thankfully, the levelling issues that were present during the first track seem to be a lot less noticeable in ‘Terminal Dispatch’ though it’s still not perfect. Despite that, I enjoyed this song. A very unique blend of styles and a fresh feeling progression makes for a decent listening experience. I’d recommend giving this track a chance and unless you have spent time mastering and producing music yourself, I doubt you’ll even really notice the minor issues I’ve found. 

I won’t lie, seeing a song that is just shy of 11 minutes on an album like this worried me. It’s a hard feat to pull of the intensity required for that amount of time however Terminalist has managed to do a really good job at it with ‘Invention of the Shipwreck’. The song does have a couple of little blips however, the song is an absolute beast and features some of the coolest riff progressions I’ve heard from an up and coming band. The changes from Thrash and Black metal work so well in unison, but I’m sure the trve kvlt Black Metal fans will condemn anything that isn’t “Pure” or “Raw” but let’s be honest… Most of them have no idea what they are going on about!

Unfortunately, ‘Estranged Reflection’ really rubs me the wrong way. The song feels very lost in itself and suffers from minor timing issues on a couple of occasions. I’m also not a fan of the echoing guitar parts during this track. I feel that it takes away from the sound the band have generated for themselves on the previous tracks. A disappointing entry into the record! Thankfully, ‘Dromocracy’ manages to save the record right at the death. Another mammoth of a song coming in at 9:13, Terminalist uses this time to demonstrate exactly what they have to offer to the metal scene. A great example of their technical ability and crazy endurance is a fine way to finish their debut album!

Overall, I think that ‘The Great Acceleration’ is a decent first entry for the band that shows promise. With experience comes improvement and I’m sure that in future releases the band won’t have some of the post-production issues that unfortunately come upon this release. Despite that, The band have managed to release some memorable songs that will attract a wide array of metal fans due to the nature of their sound. I’d recommend Terminalist to anyone who is a fan of Extreme Metal or more blacked thrash metal!