Given the band and album name, plus the label they’re signed to along with song titles including ‘All For Revenge’, ‘Last of the Diehards’, and ‘Smash Through You’, one would be forgiven for thinking this LA-based quintet’s sophomore effort an unrelenting dedication to old-school hardcore. Well, one would be wrong. But not by much.

For out of the 29 minutes of (extreme noise) Terror, there’s a one-minute-and-nine-second respite in ‘Dibbs and Murs Check In’. A track which sees cameo appearances by hip-hop MC Murs and Minneapolis rappers Atmosphere’s DJ Dibbs. This curio can be explained by the fact Terror are led by hip-hop head, Scott Vogel, a vocalist who sports a Gangstarr tattoo.

Always The Hard Way offers an idea of what a live show might be like. Think circle pits that resemble a vortex of swirling bodies, music to stage-dive to, and anthems that inspire a bout of finger-pointing. The hardest working band in showbusiness, Terror haven’t spent more than a month off the road in their four year history.

Terror recorded their second-full length album with producer Zeuss (Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, Throwdown) at Planet Z Studios in Massachusetts. Other guest vocalists include Leeway’s Eddie Sutton, wouldn’t you know Vogel also boasts a tattoo celebrating Leeway’s first album Born To Expire, and Death Threat’s Aaron. Neither manage to outshout Scotty Boy, though.

Always The Hard Way, rap interlude aside, probably won’t broaden the band’s fanbase. That’s not going to bother Vogel, that great champion of pure hardcore, much. It’s always the hard way with you Scott, isn’t it?
(3½/5)

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