Terrifier
Weapons of Thrash Destruction (Test Your Metal)

Kelowna-bred, Vancouver-based quintet Terrifier is looking to fully wreck listeners with its new album, Weapons of Thrash Destruction.

Throughout its nine songs, the record unleashes a furious hellstorm of metal yells and hollow-tip-deadly riffs. At its core, it’s a full-fledged love letter to the power of old-school thrash. On the flip side, its traditionalist bent also makes for a rather conventional assault.

“Reanimator” lays out the mission statement right quick, with guitarists Rene Wilkinson and Brent Gallant’s rapid-fire hammer-ons coalescing alongside drummer Kyle Sheppard’s double-kicked detonations. Above this, frontman Chase Thibodeau shrieks of desecrated graves, legions of undead immortals, and other assorted decay-set scenes that’d have H.P. Lovecraft reanimator Herbert West frothing at the mouth.

Though there are a few diversions—see the introductory death-waltz pace of “Nuclear Demolisher” or the spooky instro track “Riders of Doom”—Weapons of Thrash Destruction’s general reliance on keeping things in warp drive ends up dulling Terrifier’s overall attack. Instead of punchy, in-and-out procedures, most songs unload extra rounds of sweep-picked riffery above and beyond the four-minute mark.

Thibodeau and Co. hoist beers high for “Drunk as Fuck”, the frontman proclaiming of their chosen style: “Heavy metal’s not just music, it’s a way of life.” Considering the retro approach of Weapons of Thrash Destruction, Terrifier’s pounding Labatt’s like it’s still 1986.