Living Terror – Total Warfare

With a short demo under their belt to this point, American black/thrash band Living Terror has returned one year later with their debut EP, “Total Warfare”. The demo was just a taste of what was to come, as both tracks are also included on this release, and the band’s vision is still to crush everything in their path by unleashing savage vocals, old-school thrash riffs, and plenty of headbanging moments. Old-school is the key word in that description because, despite being a newer band, Living Terror sounds more at home with the bands of the 1980s than they do with more modern thrash bands. This is accomplished by utilizing more simplistic riffing, having a restrained production, and by avoiding the tendency to inject an overdose of blast beats or other extreme metal tropes into their music.

The one area where Living Terror does take a more modern approach is in their vocals. As noted above, they are truly vicious. Many of the bands who achieved a similar level of brutality in the ‘80s were hidden behind extremely thin production and felt more natural (“Endless Pain”-era Kreator, and most of the Brazilian bands come to mind). In this case, however, Living Terror’s vocalist sounds better than these older counterparts because he uses proper technique in his rasp. The result is a precise, yet ruthless performance.

Of the six full songs presented on this release, the band was correct to highlight “Lust For Blood” and “Warfare” on their demo because these two tracks remain the most effective. That isn’t to downplay the other songs; they just are a little less memorable. All six efforts will do an equally acceptable job of splitting your skull with their high velocity and relentless rhythmic attack. If I were to pick one additional highlight, it would be “Lord Of The Reaper”, which features an insanely heavy breakdown riff, as well as a fairly catchy chorus. The thrash break on this track shows that Living Terror can still be effective when playing at more moderate tempos, but they also don’t spend too much time at this slower pace before hitting warp speed again. 

On the whole, “Total Warfare” is a major success. Relative to the band’s demo, this EP comes across as being more professional. The quality of the songwriting was never in doubt, but everything from the artwork to the performances to the production has been stepped up appropriately. Though Living Terror doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done before, they have differentiated themselves from a lot of modern thrash bands simply because they don’t sound modern. If you are a serious thrasher, “Total Warfare” is an essential listen!

Be sure to check out and like Living Terror on Facebook!

Highlights

"Lord of the Reaper"

"Lust For Blood"

"Warfare"

Final Rating

4.4/5 or 88%. 

Written by Scott

Living Terror – Warfare

One look at the logo of Illinois’ Living Terror is all you need to know you’re in for a thrashing good time! “Warfare”, their sole release to this point, is a 2-song demo that offers up some of the more inspired black/thrash metal in existence among newer bands. The black metal influences come entirely from the vocals, which are incredibly raspy and more on the higher-pitched side of things. This actually comes as somewhat of a surprise in contrast to the music, which is very straight forward thrash metal, and would not have been out of place in any number of famous 1980s thrash scenes. While Living Terror is generally good about mixing up tempos by offering at least a little bit of mid-paced aggression, there is no shortage of speed on this demo. A fantastic example is one minute into the title track, where after running through a riff a couple of times, the band’s drummer kicks things into overdrive by loading on the double bass. This is a fantastic, Slayer-esque technique that has largely disappeared in thrash due to the commonplace nature of double bass. 

The subsequent track, “Lust For Blood”, takes a different approach as relies on more of a mid-paced gallop. Again, the riffs are simplistic, but incredibly effective. Things do eventually speed up, as the band throws some wicked trills into a crazed-alternate picking pattern. The ability to seamlessly transition between these two sections is impressive, and makes “Lust For Blood” feel incredibly natural. This is really a good way to describe the demo as a whole; as much as I love modern thrash, this release doesn’t sound modern at all. The production is sharp enough to give the guitars a serious attack without dominating the low end (meaning that the bass stands out easily). The drums also don’t overpower the rest of the band, making for a balanced-sounding release. My only real complaint is that I’d prefer a more standard vocal approach. It’s easy to imagine these guys with a distinctive, Zetro or Blitz-esque singer, and how wicked it would sound. Nevertheless, “Warfare” is a seriously bright spot for thrash right now, and the wait for the inevitable full-length has begun!

Be sure to check out and like Living Terror on Facebook!

Highlights

"Warfare"

"Lust For Blood"

Final Rating

4.3/5 or 86%. 

Written by Scott