Released mere days before the shocking and untimely passing of guitarist
Jesse Pintado
,
Terrorizer
's long-awaited second album,
Darker Days Ahead
, should have been a cause for celebration, instead of a tragically prophetic farewell note. Recorded 17 years after the influential pre-
grindcore
Los Angeles outfit's already posthumous, classic 1989 debut,
World Downfall
saw founding members
Pintado
and drummer
Pete Sandoval
teaming up with
Resistant Culture
vocalist
Anthony Rezhawk
and ex-
Monstrosity
bassist/guitarist
Tony Norman
to add another chapter to a legacy long ago cut short. As it turned out, the second time around proved as ill-fated as the first on a personal level; arguably as rewarding, too, from a musical perspective -- given the retooled band's authentic reproduction of their proto-
death metal
on ten of these 12 tracks (excepting the introductory snippet,
"Inevitable,"
and the closing experimental detour,
"Ghost Train"
). With those intentionally retro-minded parameters in mind, fans of
's original work will not be disappointed by the brutish, old-fashioned charm informing memorable new concoctions like
"Crematorium,"
"Mayhem,"
and
"Legacy of Brutality"
(not to mention the 2006 remake of old chestnut
"Dead Shall Rise"
); while younger listeners, oblivious to all of this reminiscent nonsense, will come away with something approaching a
history lesson, if nothing else. Which is to say that
would have probably succeeded mostly as an exercise in nostalgia, were it not for the significance gained from becoming an unexpected swan song for a life cut short. Rest in peace,
Jesse
. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia